Moral scepticism and agency: Kant and Korsgaard
Ratio 23 (4):453-474 (2010)
Abstract
One argument put forward by Christine Korsgaard in favour of her constructivist appeal to the nature of agency, is that it does better than moral realism in answering moral scepticism. However, realists have replied by pressing on her the worry raised by H. A. Prichard, that any attempt to answer the moral sceptic only succeeds in basing moral actions in non-moral ends, and so is self-defeating. I spell out these issues in more detail, and suggest that both sides can learn something by seeing how the sceptical problematic arises in Kant. Doing so, I argue, shows how Korsgaard might raise the issue of scepticism against the realist whilst avoiding the Prichardian response.1Author's Profile
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9329.2010.00478.x
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Citations of this work
How can Common Rational Capacities Confirm the Correctness of the Deduction in Groundwork III—and Why does it Matter?Martin Sticker - 2014 - Hegel Bulletin 35 (2):228-251.
The Value of Practical Knowledge: Against Engstrom’s Constructivism.Joe Saunders - 2016 - Hegel Bulletin 37 (1):117-136.
A Reply to My Critics.Robert Stern - 2012 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 55 (6):622-654.
II—Objectivity and Idolatry.Yonatan Shemmer - 2016 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 90 (1):191-216.
References found in this work
Are Moral Requirements Hypothetical Imperatives?John McDowell & I. G. McFetridge - 1978 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 52 (1):13-42.