Synopses & Reviews
This book examines some of the deepest questions in philosophy: What is involved in judging a belief, action, or feeling to be rational? What place does morality have in the kind of life it makes most sense to lead? How are to understand claims to objectivity in moral judgments and in judgments of rationality? When we find ourselves in fundamental disagreement with whole communities, how can we understand out disagreement and cope with it?
To shed light on such issues, Alan Gibbard develops what he calls a "norm-expressivstic analysis" of rationality. He refines this analysis by drawing on evolutionary theory and experimental psychology, as well as on more traditional moral and political philosophy. What emrges is an interpretation of human normative life, with its quandaries and disputes over what is rational and irrational, morally right and morally wrong. Judgments of what it makes sense to do, to think, and to feel, Gibbard agrues, are central to shaping the way we live our lives.
Gibbard does not hesitate to take up a wide variety of possible difficulties for his analysis. This sensitivity to the true complexity of the sudject matter gives his treatment a special richness and depth. The fundamental importance of the issues he addresses and the freshness and suggestiveness of the account he puts forward, along with his illuminating treatment of aspects of sociobiology theory, will ensure this book a warm reception from philosophers, social scientists, and others with a series interest in the nature of human thought and action.
Review
Every so often, though not often enough, a philosophical book is written that addresses a deep problem with profound insight, subtle argumentation and captivating style. Allan Gibbard's Wise Chioces, Apt Feelings: A Theory of Normative Judgment is such a book. It is an important book; it is a beautiful book. -- Simon Blackburn - Ethics
Review
A very distinguished book; rich in insights and written with a terse elegance that makes for wonderful clarity and ease of reading. -- Alexander Vucinich - Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
Review
This is a wonderful book. It is hard to overpraise it. It is learned, wise, deep, and subtle, and for in my view it is substantially right. It is also a marvelously human and humane book, taking us into the heart of human emotion and feeling and exploring their shape with great sympathy and skill. -- John McDowell, University of Pittsburgh
About the Author
Allan Gibbard is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan.
University of Michigan
Table of Contents
PART I: ANALYSES 1. The Puzzle
2. Nature and Judgment
3. Analyses Broached
4. Normative Psychology
5. Normative Logic
PART II: PSYCHE IN NATURE 6. Natural Representation
7. Moral Emotions
PART III: NORMATIVE OBJECTIVITY 8. Objectivity: First Steps
9. Normative Authority
10. Parochial Judgment
11. Rationale and Warrant
12. Pragmatic Support
13. Communities of Judgment
PART IV: MORAL INQUIRY 14. Moral Concern
15. Assessing Feeling
16. Structural Questions
17. Moral System
References
Index