Pragmatic reasons
Subtitle: a defense of morality and epistemology
By: Jeremy Randal Koons
Contributors: Palgrave Connect (Online service)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Basingstoke
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Number of pages: 292
ISBN-13: 9780230239579; 9780230576964
Subjects: Pragmatism; Ethics; PHILOSOPHY; Movements
Description: We daily classify actions by their morality and their voluntariness, and beliefs by their rationality. But in light of persistent skepticism about morality, free will, and (to a lesser extent) epistemology, we must ask what justifies us in making these various claims. This book defends a sophisticated version of pragmatism, resting on a novel account of strategy-based (as opposed to act-based) cooperative rationality. It will show that we can give a genuinely pragmatist account of morality and epistemology, while denying that truth is mere usefulness and maintaining the connection between truth and objectivity. The sophisticated pragmatist approach is shown to be particularly fruitful in that we can justify a range of important practices, including our practices of moral and epistemic evaluation, as well as our practice of making judgments regarding free will and moral responsibility.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements; title: Introduction; title: PART I: PRAGMATISM AND NORMATIVITY; title: Pragmatism, Causal Explanation, and Normative Facts; title: Pragmatism and Rationality; title: Pragmatism, Relativism, and Normative Discourse; title: PART II: PRAGMATISM AND MORALITY; title: Interests and Morality; title: Pragmatism, Freedom, and Responsibility; title: PART III: PRAGMATISM AND EPISTEMOLOGY; title: Pragmatism and Epistemology; title: Pragmatism, Internalism, and Externalism; title: Bibliography; title: Index.