How to Overcome Strawson’s Point: Defending a Value-Oriented Foundation for Contractualism

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Contractualism
Strawson's Point
Darwall
Ethics and Political Philosophy
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In The Second Person Standpoint, Darwall charges that all value-oriented foundations for ethics make a category mistake. Calling it Strawson’s point, he argues these foundations explain moral authority, which concerns whether someone has standing to hold another accountable, in terms of a value, which essentially concerns what makes the world go best. However, whether it would be good for me to blame you simply asks a different question than whether I have standing to blame you. I defend a value-oriented foundation for contractualism by identifying one way to overcome Strawson’s point. At bottom, Darwall’s objection relies on the assumption that all values are world regarding. I argue that another class of values exists: second-personal values. Grounding morality in one of these values does not make the category mistake at the heart of Strawson’s point. In particular, I argue that grounding morality on one second personal value, the ideal of acting justifiably towards others, better captures traditional contractualist ideals than Darwall’s formal foundation.

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2011-10-01
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This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. The final authenticated version is available online at: Paletta, D. Ethic Theory Moral Prac (2013) 16:9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-011-9328-1
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