The Nature of Moralities

FAIN: FT-12034-74

Gilbert H. Harman
Princeton University (Princeton, NJ 08540-5228)

To explore the consequences of the hypothesis that moral judgements are made with reference to a tacit sincere agreement that "we have made with each other; in particular, to examine the relevance to moral and political thinking of the distinction between "us" and "them." This study yields certain insights into morality, politics, social agreement, and intentions. An accompanying investigation of paractical reasoning reveals something about the nature of thought; in particular it supports a "holistic" conception or practical reasoning that is incompatible with so-called "decision theoretic" approaches.