Logic, Facts and Representation : An Examination of R. M. Hare’s Moral Philosophy

Författare

Toni Rønnow-Rasmussen

Summary, in English

The English philosopher Richard M. Hare - one of the leading moral philosophers of the twentieth century - develops in his most recent major work an ingenious theory of moral reasoning. He maintains that there are rules of fundamental moral thinking which are determined by the concepts involved in moral thinking. Moreover, he argues that the evaluative conclusions reached by taking facts into account and by reasoning in accordance with these rules, correspond to those reached by a utilitarian.

The author of this work sets out to examine this "derivation" of utilitarianism. Thus, a large part of this essay examines Hare's view on the meaning of 'ought'. Are evaluative 'ought'-judgements, as Hare claims, universal(izable) prescriptions? Another central topic is Hare's view on what follows from imagining being in someone else's shoes.

Hare's claim that his theory rests firmly on a logical ground is questioned. His view on prescriptive meaning, it is argued, stands in need of revision; the universalizability-thesis is not a logical thesis, and there are, it is maintained, un answered questions concerning his view on representation.

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