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Instrumental Rationality and Moral Philosophy

An Essay on the Virtues of Cooperation

  • Book
  • © 2002

Overview

Authors:
  1. Bruno Verbeek

    1. The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

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Part of the book series: Theory and Decision Library A: (TDLA, volume 33)

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
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  2. Introduction

    • Bruno Verbeek
    Pages 1-7

  3. Conventionalism and Moral Motives

    • Bruno Verbeek
    Pages 9-83

  4. Motives for Unconditional Cooperation

    • Bruno Verbeek
    Pages 85-123

  5. Motives for Conditional Cooperation: Reciprocity, Trust and Fairness

    • Bruno Verbeek
    Pages 125-158

  6. Virtuous Motives: Restraint and Spontaneity

    • Bruno Verbeek
    Pages 159-176

  7. Evolution of the Cooperative Virtues: An Indirect Justification

    • Bruno Verbeek
    Pages 177-215

  8. The Rationality of Plans: Requirements of Dynamic Choice

    • Bruno Verbeek
    Pages 217-247

  9. The Rationality of Strategic Intentions: A Justification of the Cooperative Virtues

    • Bruno Verbeek
    Pages 249-271

  10. Back Matter

    Pages 273-288
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Keywords

About this book

Many academic authors incur debts in the production of their work, many of which are intellectual. I am no exception. One of my intellectual debts is to three remarkable books, which formed the starting point for my thinking about norms. The first of these books is well known among philosophers: David Lewis' Convention. In vintage Lewisian prose, the book gives a lucid and convincing conventionalist analysis of semantic norms. The second 1985 dissertation Wederkerige book is Govert den Hartogh's Verwachtingen (Mutual Expectations). Partly because it was written in Dutch - my native tongue -partly because of the occasionally impenetrable style, it never got the attention it deserves. In that book, Den Hartogh extends Lewis' analysis of semantic norms to moral norms. Den Hartogh introduced the notion of cooperative virtues that is the focus of much of this book. The third book is a book on economics, largely ignored by economists, which only lately has started to receive some recognition among philosophers: Robert Sugden's The Economics of Rights, Co­ operation and Welfare. Sugden's book explains the emergence and stability of norms in terms of social evolution. Though all three books develop a of norms, their arguments and constructions are conventionalist account very different. Lewis and Den Hartogh take the picture of rational man deliberating about his course of action very serious; Sugden rejects this picture as unrealistic and unnecessary.

Authors and Affiliations

  • The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Bruno Verbeek

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