1st Edition
The Routledge Handbook of Practical Reason
Over the last several decades, questions about practical reason have come to occupy the center stage in ethics and metaethics. The Routledge Handbook of Practical Reason is an outstanding reference source to this exciting and distinctive subject area and is the first volume of its kind. Comprising thirty-six chapters by an international team of contributors, the Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the field and is divided into five parts:
- Foundational Matters
- Practical Reason in the History of Philosophy
- Philosophy of Practical Reason as Action Theory and Moral Psychology
- Philosophy of Practical Reason as Theory of Practical Normativity
- The Philosophy of Practical Reason as the Theory of Practical Rationality
The Handbook also includes two chapters by the late Derek Parfit, ‘Objectivism about Reasons’ and ‘Normative Non-Naturalism.’
The Routledge Handbook of Practical Reason is essential reading for philosophy students and researchers in metaethics, philosophy of action, action theory, ethics, and the history of philosophy.
An introduction to the philosophy of practical reason Kurt Sylvan and Ruth Chang
Part 1: Foundational matters
1. Some central questions about practical reason T. M. Scanlon
2. Practical reason: rationality or normativity but not both John Broome
3. Can reason be practical? narrow and broad conceptions and capacities Peter Railton
4. Practical reason and social practices Sally Haslanger
5. How to be a pragmatist Elizabeth Anderson
6. What is it to be a rational agent? Ruth Chang
Part 2: Practical reason in the history of philosophy
7. Practical reasoning in early Chinese philosophy David B. Wong
8. Aristotle on deliberation Agnes Callard
9. Hume’s robust theory of practical reason Geoffrey Sayre-McCord
10. Kant’s approach to the theory of human agency Tamar Schapiro
11. Anscombe on acting for reasons Keshav Singh
Part 3: Philosophy of practical reason as action theory and moral psychology
12. Three dogmas of agency theory Nomy Arpaly
13. Some reflections on the relationship between reasons and the will Sarah Buss
14. Three for the price of two Jonathan Dancy
15. The guise of the good Sergio Tenenbaum
16. Motivational internalism and externalism Connie S. Rosati
17. Emotions in practical reasoning Patricia Greenspan
18. Psychopathy, agency, and practical reason Monique Wonderly
19. Practical reason and social science research Valerie Tiberius and Natalia Washington
Part 4: The philosophy of practical reason as the theory of practical normativity
Section 1: The nature and grounds of normative practical reasons
20. Objectivism about reasons Derek Parfit (edited by Ruth Chang)
21. How to be a subjectivist David Sobel
22. Kantian constructivism Julia Markovits and Kenny Walden
23. Constitutivism: on rabbits, hats, and holy grails David Enoch
24. Reasoning first Pamela Hieronymi
25. Normative nonnaturalism Derek Parfit (edited by Ruth Chang)
Section 2: Some substantive matters
26. Non-requiring reasons Margaret Olivia Little and Coleen Macnamara
27. Requirements of reason R. Jay Wallace
28. Normative pluralism and skepticism about ‘ought simpliciter’ David Copp
29. There is no moral ought and no prudential ought Elizabeth Harman
30. Practical reason and the second-person standpoint Stephen Darwall
Part 5: The philosophy of practical reason as the theory of pratical rationality
31. The normativity of rationality Errol Lord
32. The eclipse of instrumental rationality Kurt Sylvan
33. Rationality, regret, and choice over time Chrisoula Andreou
34. Plan rationality Michael E. Bratman
35. Between sophistication and resolution – wise choice Wlodek Rabinowicz
36. The norms of practical reasoning Jennifer M. Morton and Sarah K. Paul
Appendix: a guide to further reading
Index
Biography
Ruth Chang is Chair and Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow at University College, Oxford, UK.
Kurt Sylvan is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton, UK.
'This volume boasts a very impressive list of distinguished contributors. It is well-organized and covers a wide range of topics central to contemporary work on practical reason. The chapters manage to simultaneously introduce topics in ways that would be accessible to beginning graduate students while also advancing the debate in ways that make the volume essential reading for specialists working in this area.' - John Brunero, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, USA