Bound By Convention - Obligation and Social Rules

This work argues that being bound by a social convention can be valuable for its own sake. People need meaning in their lives, and conventions infuse our acts and attitudes with significance, rendering them right or wrong. Such rules bind us not just in virtue of their usefulness but also because their absence would impoverish our social world.

List of contents

• Preface


• PART 1: FOUNDATIONS


• 1: Rehabilitating Conventionalism


• 2: The Value of Obligation


• 3: Convention in Action


• 4: Relativism About Obligation?


• PART 2: SOCIAL FORMS


• 5: Competitions


• 6: The Family


• 7: Private Property


• 8: Truthfulness


• 9: Privacy and Public Space


• Conclusion


• Bibliography


• Index

About the author

David Owens is Professor of Philosophy at Kings College, London. He has held visiting appointments at All Souls College, Oxford, Yale University, London University, Sydney University, New York University, and the University of Lublin. He is the author of three books: Shaping the Normative Landscape (2012); Reason Without Freedom(2000); Causes and Coincidences (1992); and a collection of papers Normativity and Control (2017).

Summary

This work argues that being bound by a social convention can be valuable for its own sake. People need meaning in their lives, and conventions infuse our acts and attitudes with significance, rendering them right or wrong. Such rules bind us not just in virtue of their usefulness but also because their absence would impoverish our social world.

Additional text

Owens' book undoubtedly constitutes an important contribution to a strangely neglected topic in recent philosophical work, namely the role of conventions in shaping our rights and obligations.

Product details

• Authors: David Owens, David (Professor of Philosophy Owens, Owens David
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.09.2022
• EAN: 9780192896124
• ISBN: 978-0-19-289612-4
• No. of pages: 278
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; Social sciences, law, business > Law > International law, foreign law; PHILOSOPHY / Social, PHILOSOPHY / Political, LAW / General, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Social & political philosophy, Ethics & moral philosophy, social and political philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy, Jurisprudence & Philosophy Of Law, Methods, theory and philosophy of law