DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
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DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
iDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYMy goal in this work is to defend the claim that it is never the case that one ought, in a final sense, to do what one is morally forbidden to do. My view, which I defend in Chapter 1, is that rationality is the final standard of behavior. Consequently, my thesis can be put succinctly as the proposi DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYtion that rationality never requires immorality. This is the Moral Sovereignty Thesis.The first question I seek to answer is which kinds of reason canDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
give rise to requirements of rationality. This is the topic of Chapter 1. The intuitive view, which I take as my starting point, is that one is alwayiDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYement. This position has come under attack of late by Jonathan Dancy and Joshua Gert, both of whom believe that only some reasons can do this. However, as I argue, Dancy has no principled way of distinguishing the two supposed types of reason. Gert, on the other hand, does have a principled way of p DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYicking out the reasons that cannot give rise to rational requirements, but his view is plausible only insofar as we are concerned with (he rationalityDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
of persons. My concern, however, is the rationality of actions.iiIf I am right that all reasons can give rise to rational requirements, then the defeiDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYuired to do. My aim in Chapter 2 is to establish that we do, in fact, sometimes have such reasons. I take, as my opponents, those theorists who believe that morality can be expanded in various ways to take into account whatever reason-grounding considerations there are. I propose that, unless we are DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY simply going to identify morality and rationality (which, I argue, we should not), on any plausible view morality is going to be blind to certain conDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
siderations. For instance, I have reasons to create aesthetically valuable things and to believe what is true, but these considerations are rarely moriDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYmes have reasons to violate our moral requirements, and those reasons can give rise to rational requirements. In Chapter 3 I look at various attempts to establish that such reasons, when they conflict with our moral requirements, do not in fact give rise to rational requirements. The way this has be DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYen defended, historically, is by attempting to establish a close connection between morality and rationality. The basic idea is that moral requirementDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
s are simply special instances of rational requirements, or that proper reasoning leads inevitably to moral imperatives. This is the basic constructiviDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY novel attempt to establish that non-moral reasons, when they conflict with moral requirements, do not in fact give rise to rational requirements. 1 argue that moral reasons are always incomparable in strength to non-moral reasons. That is, there is no moral reason that is stronger than, weaker than DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY, or equally as strong as some non-moral reason. If this is the case, and it is true, as I argued in Chapter 1, that what rationality requires of US iDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
s that we act on our strongest reason, then rationality docs not require anything of US in those cases in which a moral requirement (and the reason thiDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYirement. However, it is also true that when moral requirements conflict with non-moral reasons, we are rationally permitted to violate the moral requirement.I conclude, in Chapter 5, by discussing whether we can really afford to admit this. I also address other objections to my view, and point out t DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYwo of its strengths. First, it explains the widespread intuition that, in the great majority of the decisions we face, there is more than one rationalDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
ly permissible course of action. Second, my position steers a middle course between the Humean and Kantian extremes in moral philosophy. I.ike the KaniDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYntrast to the Kantian, I can affirm that we arc rarely rationally required to abide by moral requirements.ivACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to thank Russ Shafer-Landau. Dan Hausman, and Rob Streiffer for reading ever}' chapter of this dissertation in advance and providing helpful and challenging commen DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYts. In addition, I thank Lester Hunt for helping to foster my interest in incomparability by agreeing to include readings on the topic in his Law andDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
Ethics seminar in the Spring of 2004. I also appreciate Joel Uckelman and Bekka Williams for helping me, in conversation, to slog my way through some iDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYort of three professors who went out of their way to help ine along: Jeff McMahan. Bill Schroeder and Arthur Melnick.An earlier version of Chapter 1 was presented at the 2006 APA Pacific Division Annual Meeting. Thanks to the members of the audience for their feedback and to the commentator. Jill Gr DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYaper Hernandez, for her detailed response.I also presented Chapter 1 to an audience composed of my fellow students as part of the 2005-06 UW-Madison PDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
hilosophy Department Graduate Student Colloquium series. As always, my colleagues raised questions and objections that were both insightful and penetriDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonM DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYnduring gratitude. I count myself lucky to have been able to spend this part of my life with you.TABLE OF CONTENTSAbstractAcknowledgementsivIntroduction1Chapter 1. The Platitude of Practical Reason4Four Clarifications4Satisficing9Reasons that Don’t Require11Gert and Purely Justificatory Reasons12Dan DOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITYcy and Enticing Reasons25Authority and Finality32Chapter 2. The Three Appeals Strategy37The Strategy37Some Preliminaries39The Three Appeals40The AppeaDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY
l to Underminers The Appeal to a Wider Morality and the Appeal to44a Narrower Normative Realm50iDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonMiDOES RATIONALITY EVER REQUIRE IMMORALITY?Benjamin Sachs Under the Supervision of Professor Russ Shafer-Landau At the University of Wisconsin-MadisonMGọi ngay
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