Brute Rationality: Normativity And Human Action

This page intentionally left blank Brute Rationality Normativity and Human Action This book presents a new account of normative practical reasons and the way in which they contribute to the rationality of action. Rather than simply ‘counting in favor of ’ actions, normative reasons play two logically distinct roles: requiring action and justifying action. The distinction between these two roles explains why some reasons do not seem relevant to the rational status of an action unless the agent cares about them, while other reasons retain all their force regardless of the agent’s attitude. It also explains why the class of rationally permissible action is wide enough to contain not only all morally required action, but also much selfish and immoral action. The book will appeal to a range of readers interested in practical reason in particular, and moral theory more generally. Joshua Gert is Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, Florida State University. He has published in a number of philosophical journals including American Philosophical Quarterly, Ethics, and Noˆus. CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY General editors e. j. lowe and walter sinnott-armstrong Advisory editors jonathan dancy University of Reading john haldane University of St Andrews gilbert harman Princeton University frank jackson Australian National University william g. lycan University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill sydney shoemaker Cornell University judith j. thomson Massachusetts Institute of Technology recent titles joshua hoffman & gary s. rosenkrantz Substance among other categories paul helm Belief policies noah lemos Intrinsic value lynne rudder baker Explaining attitudes henry s. richardson Practical reasoning about final ends robert a. wilson Cartesian psychology and physical minds barry maund Colours michael devitt Coming to our senses sydney shoemaker The first-person perspective and other essays michael stocker Valuing emotions arda denkel Object and property e. j. lowe Subjects of experience norton nelkin Consciousness and the origins of thought pierre jacob What minds can do andre gallois The world without, the mind within d. m. armstrong A world of states of affairs david cockburn Other times mark lance & john o’leary-hawthorne The grammar of meaning annette barnes Seeing through self-deception david lewis Papers in metaphysics and epistemology michael bratman Faces of intention david lewis Papers in ethics and social philosophy mark rowlands The body in mind: understanding cognitive processes logi gunnarsson Making moral sense: beyond Habermas and Gauthier bennett w. helm Emotional reason: deliberation, motivation, and the nature of value richard joyce The myth of morality ishtiyaque haji Deontic morality and control andrew newman The correspondence theory of truth jane heal Mind, reason, and imagination peter railton Facts, values and norms christopher s. hill Thought and world wayne davis Meaning, expression and thought andrew melnyk A physicalist manifesto jonathan l. kvanvig The value of knowledge and the pur