ENGLISH

Human Morality

By Samuel Scheffler

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Year
1993
ISBN
0195085647, 9780195085648
DOI
10.1093/0195085647.001.0001
Open Library ID
OL14959147M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1398655 bytes)
Pages
160\145
Time added
2011-04-20 14:05:05

Description

Some people believe that the demands of morality coincide with the requirements of an enlightened self-interest. Others believe that morality is diametrically opposed to considerations of self-interest. This book argues that there is another position, intermediate between these extremes, which makes better sense of the totality of our moral thought and practice. Scheffler elaborates this position via an examination of morality's content, scope, authority, and deliberative role. Although conflicts between morality and self-interest do arise, according to this position, nevertheless morality is fundamentally a reasonable and humane phenomenon. Moreover, the psychological bases of effective moral motivation have sources deep within the self, and morally motivated individuals try to shape their own interests so as to avoid conflict with morality. Since human practices and institutions help to determine the prevalence of these motives, and since in this and other ways they influence the degree to which conflicts between morality and self-interest actually occur, the extent of such conflict is not fixed or immutable, and is in part a social and political issue.

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