Practical Reasoning And Ethical Decision

Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision What role does reason play in our actions? How do we know whether what we do is right? Can practical reasoning guide ethical judgment? Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision presents an account of practical reasoning as a process that can explain action, connect reasoning with intention, justify practical judgments, and provide a basis for ethical decisions. The first part of the book is a detailed critical overview of the influential theories of practical reasoning found in Aristotle, Hume, and Kant. The second part examines practical reasoning in the light of important topics in moral psychology—weakness of will, self-deception, rationalization, and others. The third part describes the role of moral principles in practical reasoning and clarifies the way practical reasoning underlies ethical decisions. Audi formulates a comprehensive set of concrete ethical principles, explains how they apply to reasoning about what to do, and shows how practical reasoning guides moral conduct. Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision provides the most comprehensive account of the topic in the current literature and is essential reading for anyone interested in the role of reason in ethics or the nature of human action. Robert Audi is the David E.Gallo Chair in Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of Moral Knowledge and Ethical Character (1997), The Architecture of Reason (2001), Epistemology (Routledge, 2003), The Good in the Right (2004), and many papers in ethics, moral psychology, and the philosophy of action. Robert Audi Practical Reasoning and Ethical Decision LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX 14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.” © 2006 Robert Audi All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Audi, Robert, 1941– Practical reasoning and ethical decision/Robert Audi.—1 st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-36462-0 (hardcover: alk paper)—ISBN 0-415-36463-9 (pbk: alk paper) I. Practical reason. 2. Ethics. 3. Decision making. 4. Aristotle. 5. Hu