Brandt's Search for Rational Desires

This paper will address the metaethical theory presented by Richard Brandt in his influential work, A Theory of the Good and the Right.1 The book analyzes desires and aversions, which Brandt calls "valences," and presents a method whereby such valences may be labeled rational or irrational. Brandt then proposes that this notion of rational and irrational valences may be substituted in ethics for talk of the good and the right.2 This paper will present an overview of the general features of Brandt's work, and then offer criticisms that show that Brandt's account of rational and irrational desires is in its present state unworkable. The paper will close with some speculations concerning the appropriateness of the terms "rational" and "irrational" in reference to valences at all.