Internalization and moral demands

Wai Lam William SIN

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

How should we assess the burden of moral demands? A predominant assessment is provided by what Murphy calls the baseline of factual status-quo (FSQ): A moral theory is demanding if the level of agents’ well-being is reduced from the time they begin to comply perfectly with the theory. The aims of my paper are threefold. I will first discuss the limits of the FSQ baseline. Second, I suggest a different assessment, which examines moral demands from a whole-life perspective. My view is that even if agents’ compliance with a moral theory will not cause a substantial reduction to their existing level of well-being, the total quality of life that they may obtain from complying with this theory may still be lower than what they could have obtained by following some other moral theories. The third aim of this paper is that, through this investigation, I hope to explicate the relation between agents’ acceptance of a moral theory and the burden of demands that is created by it. I believe that we can achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of moral demands by paying attention to the psychological development of agents as they accept and internalize a moral theory. Copyright © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)163-175
JournalPhilosophical Studies
Volume157
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2012

Citation

Sin, W. (2012). Internalization and moral demands. Philosophical Studies, 157(2), 163-175.

Keywords

  • The problem of demandingness
  • Factual status-quo baseline
  • Internalization
  • Consequentialism
  • Famine relief

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