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MORAL SCEPTICISM AND AGENCY: KANT AND KORSGAARD
Author(s) -
Stern Robert
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
ratio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-9329
pISSN - 0034-0006
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9329.2010.00478.x
Subject(s) - skepticism , philosophy , epistemology , appeal , spell , argument (complex analysis) , agency (philosophy) , abandonment (legal) , moral realism , moral psychology , psychology , political science , theology , law , biochemistry , chemistry
Abstract One argument put forward by Christine Korsgaard in favour of her constructivist appeal to the nature of agency, is that it does better than moral realism in answering moral scepticism. However, realists have replied by pressing on her the worry raised by H. A. Prichard, that any attempt to answer the moral sceptic only succeeds in basing moral actions in non‐moral ends, and so is self‐defeating. I spell out these issues in more detail, and suggest that both sides can learn something by seeing how the sceptical problematic arises in Kant. Doing so, I argue, shows how Korsgaard might raise the issue of scepticism against the realist whilst avoiding the Prichardian response. 1