Constructions of Practical Reason

by Pauer-Studer, Herlinde

• ISBN13: 9780804741729
• ISBN10: 0804741727
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-01
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

This set of extended and intellectually nuanced interviews with a broad range of contemporary philosophers working in the fields of moral and political philosophy invites readers to participate in the dialogue. We observe philosophers think as they speak, trying to clarify their views, and we watch them argue with each other, in the process revealing answers to some of the puzzles their writings provoke. The contributors are: Seyla Benhabib, Ronald Dworkin, David Gauthier, Christine M. Korsgaard, Martha C. Nussbaum, Michael J. Sandel, Thomas M. Scanlon, Amartya Sen, and Michael Walzer. Pauer-Studer invites her contributors to talk about major issues from different theoretical perspectivesliberalism and communitarianism, Hobbesianism and rational choice theory, utilitarianism and Kantianism, Critical Theory and neo-Aristotelianism. She also gets them to discuss the relevance of their views to such issues as feminism, abortion, animal rights, ecology, immigration, welfare, and multiculturalism. The interview format creates a much more accessible account of complex philosophical ideas and problematic aspects of the contributors' works than found in the works themselves.

Author Biography

Herlinde Pauer-Studer is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Vienna. This is her first work published in English.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Contributors	xi
Introduction	1	(28)
Herlinde Pauer-Studer
Discourse Ethics and Minority Rights	29	(21)
Seyla Benhabib
Internalism and the Sources of Normativity	50	(20)
Christine M. Korsgaard
Contractualism and What We Owe to Each Other	70	(20)
Thomas M. Scanlon
Rational Agreement and Morality	90	(23)
David Gauthier
Morality and Moral Perception	113	(15)
Martha C. Nussbaum
Law, Morality, and Equality	128	(20)
Ronald Dworkin
Social Choice Theory and Justice	148	(31)
Amartya Sen
Justice and Republican Values	179	(15)
Michael J. Sandel
Universalism, Equality, and Immigration	194	(19)
Michael Walzer
Notes	213	(6)
Bibliography	219	(6)
Index	225