Rationality, Virtue and Higher‐Order Coherence

Dialectica 72 (3):411-436 (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Since it is hard to see how subjective rationality could be normative, a humbler, purely evaluative account of rationality’s importance has been suggested: rationality is a non-moral virtue, and rational action is good so far as it reveals that an agent ‘functions well’. This paper argues, however, that even this fallback position is threatened by ‘eccentric billionaire’ scenarios: sometimes, flouting purported coherence standards of rationality is maximally virtuous. In defense of the virtue account, I argue that a novel view of rational constraints is called for: rationality requires a certain form of higher-order coherence – as considerations about instrumental coherence can show.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Conflict of Evidence and Coherence.Alex Worsnip - 2018 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 96 (1):3-44.
Coherence as an ideal of rationality.Lyle Zynda - 1996 - Synthese 109 (2):175 - 216.
What is (In)coherence?Alex Worsnip - 2018 - Oxford Studies in Metaethics 13:184-206.
Rationality and Higher-Order Intentionality.Alan Millar - 2001 - Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 49:179-198.
Rationality and higher-order intentionality.Alan Millar - 2001 - Philosophy Supplement 49:179-198.
Rationality as a Virtue.Ralph Wedgwood - 2014 - Analytic Philosophy 55 (4):319-338.
Bridging Rationality and Accuracy.Miriam Schoenfield - 2015 - Journal of Philosophy 112 (12):633-657.
Is Strict Coherence Coherent?Alan Hájek - 2012 - Dialectica 66 (3):411-424.
Instrumental desires, instrumental rationality.Michael Smith - 2004 - Supplement to the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 78 (1):93-109.

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-01-23

Downloads
39 (#356,630)

6 months
4 (#319,344)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Jens Gillessen
University of Marburg

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

What we owe to each other.Thomas Scanlon - 1998 - Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
What We Owe to Each Other.Thomas Scanlon - 2002 - Mind 111 (442):323-354.
Why be rational.Niko Kolodny - 2005 - Mind 114 (455):509-563.
The Toxin Puzzle.Gregory S. Kavka - 1983 - Analysis 43 (1):33-36.

View all 28 references / Add more references