Reasons without Rationalism
Introduction
THIS IS A BOOK about how one should live. And since I take it for granted
that what one should do, all things considered, is what there is most
reason to do, it is at the same time a book about practical reason. The
view it defends is roughly this: that one should live and act as a person
of good character would live and act, if she were in one's place; one
should imitate the ethically virtuous person.
There are complications here. What am I to do when I have managed to end
up in a ditch in which no virtuous person could be found? What about the
fact that there are many different ways of being good? For the moment, let
us set these issues aside. I will argue that we cannot say what it is to
have a reason to act, or understand the nature of practical reason, except
in terms of ethical virtue. It follows, as I will try to show, that
Aristotle was right: we cannot be fully good without the perfection of
practical reason, or have that perfection without being good.
When I describe my view to non-philosophers, it is sometimes met with
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