Self-constitution Korsgaard Christine M. Harvard University
Self-constitution Korsgaard Christine M. Harvard University Christine M. Moral philosophy aspires to understand the fact that human actions, unlike the actions of the other animals, can be morally…
Specifikacia Self-constitution Korsgaard Christine M. Harvard University
Self-constitution Korsgaard Christine M. Harvard University
Christine M. Moral philosophy aspires to understand the fact that human actions, unlike the actions of the other animals, can be morally good or bad, right or wrong. Korsgaard presents an account of the foundation of practical reason and moral obligation.
Just as we need to know that it is the function of the heart to pump blood to know that a good heart is one that pumps blood successfully, so we need to know what the function of an action is in order to know what counts as a good or bad action. Few moral philosophers, however, have exploited the idea that actions might be morally good or bad in virtue of being good or bad of their kind - good or bad as actions. Drawing on the work of Plato, Aristotle, and Kant, Korsgaard proposes that the function of an action is to constitute the agency and therefore the identity of the person who does it.
As rational beings, we are aware of, and