1st Edition

Nature and Normativity Biology, Teleology, and Meaning

By Mark Okrent Copyright 2018
248 Pages
by Routledge

248 Pages
by Routledge

248 Pages
by Routledge

Nature and Normativity argues that the problem of the place of norms in nature has been essentially misunderstood when it has been articulated in terms of the relation of human language and thought, on the one hand, and the world described by physics on the other. Rather, if we concentrate on the facts that speaking and thinking are activities of organic agents, then the problem of the place of... Read more

1. Norms and the Response to Norms

2. Life and Teleology

3. Building an Instrumentally Rational Agent

4. Social Animals and Non-Instrumental Norms

5. Distinctive Human Abilities: Practical Reason and Responding to Types

6. Language and the Ability to Criticize Norms

7. Warrant and Truth

Biography

Mark Okrent is Professor of Philosophy at Bates College, USA. He is the author of two books, Heidegger’s Pragmatism: Understanding, Being, and the Critique of Metaphysics (1988) and Rational Animals: The Teleological Roots of Intentionality (2007). He has also published on a wide range of topics, including intentionality, teleology, Pragmatism, Heidegger, Davidson, Kant, and Hegel, among others.

"Okrent provides a complex naturalistic account of norms and normative behavior. In contrast to the Kantian view that normative behavior demands an agent capable of rational representation of norms, Okrent's position is that the teleological explanations of the behavior of nonhuman organisms succeed without appeal to abstract representation on the part of the organism. Summing Up: Recommended." -- CHOICE