Rational Rules - Towards a Theory of Moral Learning

Rational Rules argues that moral learning can be understood in terms of general-purpose rational learning procedures. Nichols provides statistical learning accounts of some fundamental aspects of moral development, combining aspects of traditional empiricist and rationalist approaches.

List of contents

• Preface


• PART I: RATIONALITY AND RULES


• 1: Rationality and morality: Setting the stage


• 2: The wrong and the bad: On the nature of moral representations


• PART II: STATISTICAL LEARNING OF NORM SYSTEMS


• 3: Scope


• 4: Priors


• 5: Closure


• 6: Status


• PART III: PHILOSOPHICAL IMPLICATIONS


• 7: Moral empiricism


• 8: Rational rules and normative propriety


• 9: Rational rules, relativism, and universalism


• 10: Is it rational to be moral?

About the author

Shaun Nichols is Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University.

Summary

Rational Rules argues that moral learning can be understood in terms of general-purpose rational learning procedures. Nichols provides statistical learning accounts of some fundamental aspects of moral development, combining aspects of traditional empiricist and rationalist approaches.

Additional text

...very sophisticated discussions of statistical inference and learning theory with an equally sophisticated discussion of what this kind of learning might mean for a range of metaethical concerns...

Product details

• Authors: Shaun Nichols, Shaun (Professor of Philosophy Nichols, Nichols Shaun
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 11.02.2021
• EAN: 9780198869153
• ISBN: 978-0-19-886915-3
• No. of pages: 266
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; PHILOSOPHY / Epistemology, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Ethics & moral philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy, Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge, Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge