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Practical Reason in Law and Morality

Online ISBN:
9780191713071
Print ISBN:
9780198268772
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Practical Reason in Law and Morality

Neil MacCormick
Neil MacCormick
formerly Regius Professor Emeritus of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations, University of Edinburgh
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Published online:
1 May 2009
Published in print:
18 December 2008
Online ISBN:
9780191713071
Print ISBN:
9780198268772
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

The concept of practical reason is central to contemporary thought on ethics and the philosophy of law — acting well means acting for good reasons. Explaining this requires several stages. How do reasons relate to actions at all, as incentives and in explanations? What are values, how do they relate to human nature, and how do they enter practical reasoning? How do the concepts of ‘right and wrong’ fit in, and in what way do they involve questions of mutual trust among human beings? How does our moral freedom — our freedom to form our own moral commitments — relate to our responsibilities to each other? How is this final question transposed into law and legal commitments? This book explores these questions, vital to understanding the nature of law and morality. It presents an account of practical reason. It also offers a reinterpretation of Kant's views on moral autonomy and Adam Smith's on self-command, marrying Smith's ‘moral sentiments’ to Kant's ‘categorical imperative’.

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