The Question of the Existence of Moral Reasons and Two Kinds of Scepticisms

Journal of Value Inquiry (forthcoming)
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Abstract

If we have selfish reasons to do as morality says, does that mean that we have moral reasons? What, exactly, does it mean for there to be moral reasons (for us to do things)? In this paper, I do three things. First, I present and clarify the question of the existence of moral reasons – which in the absence of careful elucidation stands rather obscure. Second, I consider two distinct ways that one may be sceptical about the existence of moral reasons. Third, from the two scepticisms, I raise the interesting question of whether radical scepticism about reasons really does address the question of the existence of moral reasons – and argue that it does not. This is an interesting result which, if true, raises questions that deserve further attention from those interested in the issue of the existence of moral reasons and the question of normativity more generally.

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Kipros Lofitis
Nottingham University (PhD)

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References found in this work

What We Owe to Each Other.Thomas Scanlon (ed.) - 1998 - Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Famine, affluence, and morality.Peter Singer - 1972 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (3):229-243.
Moral Luck.Bernard Williams - 1981 - Critica 17 (51):101-105.
The Normativity of Instrumental Reason.Christine M. Korsgaard - 1997 - In Garrett Cullity & Berys Nigel Gaut (eds.), Ethics and practical reason. New York: Oxford University Press.

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