Speaker: Adam Cureton (University of Tennessee)

Adam Cureton will give a talk entitled, “Making Room For Rules”. Reception to follow, all are encouraged to attend!

Abstract:

Kantian moral theories must explain how their most basic
moral values of dignity and autonomy should be interpreted and applied
to human conditions. One place Kantians should look for inspiration is,
surprisingly, the utilitarian tradition and its emphasis on generally
accepted, informally enforced, publicly known moral rules of the sort
that help us give assurances, coordinate our behavior, and overcome weak
wills. Kantians have tended to ignore utilitarian discussions of such
rules mostly because they regard basic moral principles as a priori
requirements that cannot be tailored to human foibles and limitations.
I argue that Kantian moral theories should incorporate public moral
rules as mid-level moral requirements for embodied and socially embedded
human agents. I explain how certain specific moral judgments about how
we ought to act are justified by public moral rules, which are
themselves justified by more fundamental moral requirements.