Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T09:03:26.654Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Leaving Agent-Relative Value Behind

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2020

Christa M. Johnson Open the ORCID record for Christa M. Johnson [Opens in a new window]
Christa M. Johnson*
Affiliation:
California State University
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Commonsense morality seems to feature both agent-neutral and agent-relative elements. For a long time, the core debate between consequentialists and deontologists was which of these features should take centerstage. With the introduction of the consequentializing project and agent-relative value, however, agent-neutrality has been left behind. While I likewise favor an agent-relative view, agent-neutral views capture important features of commonsense morality.

This article investigates whether an agent-relative view can maintain what is attractive about typical agent-neutral views. In particular, I argue that the agent-relative reasons-wielding deontologist is ultimately able to capture those features ordinarily associated with agent-neutral views, while the agent-relative value wielding consequentialist is left with a dilemma. The consequentializer either succumbs to the concerns of her agent-neutral opponents or else abandons the distinctive and attractive features of her view. Either way, I conclude that agent-relative value is best left behind.

Type
Article
Information
Utilitas , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 53 - 67
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, L., and Moore, M.. 2016. Deontological Ethics, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Winter Edition, ed. by Edward N. Zalta.Google Scholar
Brook, Richard, 2007. Deontology, Paradox, and Moral Evil, Social Theory and Practice 3: 431–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullity, Garrett. 2015. Neutral and Relative Value, in The Oxford Handbook of Value Theory, ed. by Hirose, Iwao and Olson, Jonas (New York: Oxford), pp. 96–116.Google Scholar
Dougherty, Tom. 2013. Agent-Neutral Deontology. Philosophical Studies, 163: 527–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreier, James. 2011. In Defense of Consequentializing, in Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, vol. 1, ed. by Timmons, Mark (New York: Oxford).Google Scholar
Dworkin, Ronald. 1977. Taking Rights Seriously (London: Duckworth).Google Scholar
Hammerton, Matthew. 2016. Patient-Relativity in Morality, Ethics, 127(1): 6–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heuer, Ulrike. 2011. The Paradox of Deontology, Revisited, in Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, vol. 1, ed. by Timmons, Mark (New York: Oxford), pp. 236–67.Google Scholar
Hurley, Paul. 2013. Consequentializing and Deontologizing: Clogging the Consequentialist Vacuum, in Oxford Studies in Normative Ethics, vol. 3, ed. by Timmons, Mark (New York: Oxford), pp. 123–53.Google Scholar
Jollimore, Troy. 2017. Impartiality, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter Edition), ed. by Edward N. Zalta.Google Scholar
Johnson, Christa M. 2019. The Intrapersonal Paradox of Deontology, The Journal of Moral Philosophy, 16(3): 279–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korsgaard, Christine. 1993. The Reasons We Can Share: An Attack on the Distinction between Agent-Relative and Agent-Neutral Values, Social Philosophy and Policy, 10(1): 24–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korsgaard, Christine. 1996. Creating the Kingdom of Ends (New York: Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNaughton, D. and Rawling, P.. 1995. Value and Agent-Relative Reasons, Utilitas, 7(1): 31–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, Thomas. 1986. The View from Nowhere (New York: Oxford).Google Scholar
Portmore, Douglas. 2007. Consequentializing Moral Theories, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 88: 39–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portmore, Douglas. 2011. Commonsense Consequentialism: Wherein Morality Meets Rationality (New York: Oxford).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schroeder, Mark. 2007. Teleology, Agent-Relative Value, and “Good”, Ethics, 117(2): 265–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar