
Contents
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5.1 Transitivity and Reasons 5.1 Transitivity and Reasons
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5.2 Intransitivity 5.2 Intransitivity
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5.2.1 The Repugnant Conclusion 5.2.1 The Repugnant Conclusion
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5.2.2 Resisting the first step 5.2.2 Resisting the first step
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5.2.3 The Mere Addition Paradox 5.2.3 The Mere Addition Paradox
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5.3 Intransitivity and Contrastivism 5.3 Intransitivity and Contrastivism
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5.3.1 Two kinds of intransitivity 5.3.1 Two kinds of intransitivity
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5.4 Contrast-Sensitive Importance 5.4 Contrast-Sensitive Importance
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5.4.1 Strength of reasons and importance of objectives 5.4.1 Strength of reasons and importance of objectives
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5.4.2 Contrast-sensitive importance 5.4.2 Contrast-sensitive importance
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5.4.3 Contrastivism about reasons and importance 5.4.3 Contrastivism about reasons and importance
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5.5 Remaining Questions 5.5 Remaining Questions
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5.5.1 What should I do? 5.5.1 What should I do?
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5.5.2 Why so uncommon? 5.5.2 Why so uncommon?
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5.6 Conclusion 5.6 Conclusion
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Cite
Abstract
This chapter applies contrastivism to an important debate in normative ethics. Contrastivism about reasons seems initially well placed to accommodate the supposed intransitivity of normative relations such as ‘better than’ or ‘more reason than’. But the theory as developed in Chapter 4 rules out a certain kind of intransitivity of reasons. This chapter shows that, nevertheless, the contrastivist can accommodate the intransitivity of ‘more reason than’, but that doing so is optional. The crucial move is to let the importance of reason-providing objectives vary with the alternatives. The contrastivist about reasons need not accept this further thesis, and a non-contrastivist about reasons may accept it. Nevertheless, it is a particularly natural thesis for a contrastivist to accept. The chapter rehearses familiar arguments for intransitivity, based on examples from Derek Parfit and due to Larry Temkin and Stuart Rachels, but also raises serious challenges for any theory that accepts intransitivity.
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