Normative Judgement, Rationality, and Reflective Agency

Abstract

Normative judgements have distinctive features that call out for explanation. In this thesis I provide an explanation of these distinctive features by defending three main philosophical positions. First, I provide a novel analysis of normative concepts in terms of the concept of rationality. Secondly, I provide an account of the concept of rationality in terms of the role that it plays in the ascription of mental states. And, finally, I defend a cognitivist account of reflective agency, according to which self-governing agents regulate their own mental states by self-ascribing them. The overall picture I will be developing can be summarised as follows: normative judgements are judgements about rationality, which rationally constrain our attitudes because they rationally constrain the self-ascriptions by means of which we regulate those attitudes. Show more