Authors:
- Attempts to provide the first methodological advance concerning reflective equilibrium since the initial descriptions of the method by Nelson Goodman, John Rawls and Normal Daniels
- Shows how inductive logic and decision theory can aid the effort to turn the undesirable condition of reflective disequilibrium into reflective equilibrium
- Introduces a version of decision theory that can be applied with merely comparative plausibilities and utilities
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Theory and Decision Library A: (TDLA, volume 49)
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
This volume recreates the received notion of reflective equilibrium. It reconfigures reflective equilibrium as both a cognitive ideal and a method for approximating this ideal. The ideal of reflective equilibrium is restructured using the concept of discursive strata, which are formed by sentences and differentiated by function. Sentences that perform the same kind of linguistic function constitute a stratum. The book shows how moral discourse can be analyzed into phenomenal, instrumental, and teleological strata, and the ideal of reflective equilibrium reworked in these terms. In addition, the work strengthens the method of reflective equilibrium by harnessing the resources of decision theory and inductive logic. It launches a comparative version of decision theory and employs this framework as a guide to moral theory choice. It also recruits quantitative inductive logic to inform a standard of inductive cogency. When used in tandem with comparative decision theory, this standard can aid in the effort to turn the undesirable condition of reflective disequilibrium into reflective equilibrium.
Keywords
Authors and Affiliations
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Saint Louis University – Madrid Campus, Madrid, Spain
John R. Welch
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Moral Strata
Book Subtitle: Another Approach to Reflective Equilibrium
Authors: John R. Welch
Series Title: Theory and Decision Library A:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08013-0
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-08012-3Published: 02 October 2014
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-38291-3Published: 23 August 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-08013-0Published: 19 September 2014
Series ISSN: 0921-3384
Series E-ISSN: 2352-2119
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 202
Number of Illustrations: 17 b/w illustrations
Topics: Ethics, Operations Research/Decision Theory, Mathematics in the Humanities and Social Sciences