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Pragmatist Metaethics: Moral Theory as a Deliberative Practice
Author(s) -
Lekan Todd
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the southern journal of philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.281
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 2041-6962
pISSN - 0038-4283
DOI - 10.1111/j.2041-6962.2006.tb00101.x
Subject(s) - pragmatism , deliberation , epistemology , normative , context (archaeology) , philosophy , antecedent (behavioral psychology) , psychology , political science , social psychology , law , paleontology , politics , biology
The paper defends a pragmatist account of metaethics that challenges the standard view of justificatory structure at the heart of many rule‐based normative ethical theories. The standard view of justificatory structure assumes that deliberation must be constrained by antecedent justificatory procedures. I consider some of the radical implications of the pragmatist idea that deliberation is the conceptual context within which to interpret, evaluate, and explain moral justification.