
Published online:
18 March 2021
Published in print:
11 February 2021
Online ISBN:
9780191905667
Print ISBN:
9780198869153
Contents
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1. Why Should All Rational Agents Be Moral? 1. Why Should All Rational Agents Be Moral?
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2. Why Are We Moral? 2. Why Are We Moral?
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2.1 Internalism and Externalism about Moral Motivation 2.1 Internalism and Externalism about Moral Motivation
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2.2 Automaticity of Rule-Based Motivation 2.2 Automaticity of Rule-Based Motivation
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2.3 Automaticity of Moral Motivation 2.3 Automaticity of Moral Motivation
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3. Why Should We Be Moral? 3. Why Should We Be Moral?
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Chapter
10 Is It Rational to Be Moral?
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Pages
211–226
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Published:February 2021
Cite
Nichols, Shaun, 'Is It Rational to Be Moral?', Rational Rules: Towards a Theory of Moral Learning (Oxford , 2021; online edn, Oxford Academic, 18 Mar. 2021), https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198869153.003.0010, accessed 28 Apr. 2025.
Abstract
Why should all rational agents be moral? This is one ancient and challenging question about moral motivation. But there is another perhaps more tractable question about moral motivation. Why as a matter of fact are most of us motivated by moral considerations? What is it about the kind of creature I am that inclines me to be moral? Moral judgments (e.g. that it’s right to give to a certain charity) seem to be directly motivating. This chapter argues that even non-moral normative judgments often are directly motivating. A primary form of rule representation automatically carries with it motivation force.
Keywords:
why be moral, motivational rationalism, internalism, externalism, automaticity of rule-based motivation
Subject
Moral Philosophy
Collection:
Oxford Scholarship Online
Rational Rules: Towards a Theory of Moral Learning. Shaun Nichols, Oxford University Press (2021). © Shaun Nichols. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198869153.003.0010
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