Morality and Metaphysics

"In this book, Charles Larmore develops an account of morality, freedom, and reason that rejects the naturalistic metaphysics shaping much of modern thought. Reason, Larmore argues, is responsiveness to reasons, and reasons themselves are essentially normative in character, consisting in the way that physical and psychological facts - facts about the world of nature - count in favor of possibilities of thought and action that we can take up. Moral judgments are true or false in virtue of the moral reasons there are. We need therefore a more comprehensive metaphysics that recognizes a normative dimension to reality as well. Though taking its point of departure in the analysis of moral judgment, this book branches widely into related topics such as freedom and the causal order of the world, textual interpretation, the nature of the self, self-knowledge, and the concept of duties to ourselves"-- Provided by publisher 01.0_pp_i_ii_Morality_and_Metaphysics -1 02.0_pp_iii_iii_Morality_and_Metaphysics -1 03.0_pp_iv_iv_Copyright_page 1 04.0_pp_v_v_Contents 5 05.0_pp_vi_viii_Acknowledgments 6 06.0_pp_1_14_Introduction 9 07.0_pp_15_108_The_Structure_and_Scope_of_the_Moral_Point_of_View 23 07.1_pp_17_51_Reflection_and_Morality 25 07.2_pp_52_71_The_Idea_of_Duties_to_Oneself 60 07.3_pp_72_91_The_Ethics_of_Reading 80 07.4_pp_92_108_The_Holes_in_Holism 100 08.0_pp_109_235_Self_and_World 117 08.1_pp_111_133_Kant_and_the_Meanings_of_Autonomy 119 08.2_pp_134_171_Moral_Philosophy_and_Metaphysical_Evasion 142 08.3_pp_172_210_The_Conditions_of_Human_Freedom 180 08.4_pp_211_235_Self-Knowledge_and_Commitment 219 09.0_pp_236_238_Index 244