Download Essays on Practical Reason and Moral Psychology

Copyright © 2012
Avello Publishing Journal
ISSN: 2049 - 498X
Issue 1 Volume 2:
The Unconscious
Jason Wakefield
Review: The Constitution of Agency: Essays on Practical Reason and Moral Psychology (2008)
Christine M. Korsgaard. Oxford University Press. 2012
Recently, whilst inspecting an oil painting of King Edward III in Emmanuel College, Cambridge –
the thought occurred to me that John Harvard might have once stood in exactly the same place as I.
John Harvard studied at Emmanuel College before he bequeathed the funds that led to the
foundation of the American University that bears his name: Harvard University. Emmanuel,
alongside the other colleges of the University of Cambridge, has produced well over 60 Nobel Prize
winners and educated approximately forty heads of state / government, including fifteen prime –
ministers. Christine Korsgaard is Arthur Kingsley Porter Professor of Philosophy at Harvard
University, where Drew Faust is currently the first ever female president. The relationship between
American academics and English academics is still very strong, which is testament to Korsgaard
choosing Oxford University Press to publish this excellent (three hundred or so page) collection of
papers. She does however dismiss a former editor of the journal Mind: 'the philosophers of the
future will still be reading Rawls when they have forgotten G. E Moore.' (Korsgaard 2012: 326)
Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hume, Nagel and Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy by Williams are
her main referential points confining her argumentation to the established, traditional canon.
Although her referencing is very good, perhaps she could have been more specific in the opening
pages of the introduction which philosopher she has in mind with regards to rational principles.
Implicitly it is Velleman she is reading, however this could have been made more explicit. Despite
this, Korsgaard's early argumentation is convincing and important. It is easy for the colossal
secondary literature on constructivist, Kantian reasoning to dilute its core principles and
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foundations. Korsgaard, although citing texts such as Nagel's The Possibility of Altruism and
Williams Moral Luck, does not stray too far from the locus classicus of Kantian practical reason.
This is a refreshing piece of scholarship, as this area has become saturated with an over-abundance
of secondary literature orientated towards or against Williams. It is intriguing that Kant's
Gesammelte Schriften is not Korsgaard's first line of enquiry but Hume's A Treatise of Human
Nature. Unfortunately Korsgaard also fabricates what Hume does not say, in addition to these direct
quotations. She doesn't make Hume sound perverse, as she suggests on page thirty – seven, because
she distorts Hume's argument out of context. Her reading of Kant later in the chapter is far stronger
then her early mishandling of A Treatise of Human Nature, leading to the analytic assertion that
'whoever wills the end wills the means insofar as reason has a decisive influence on his actions.'
(Korsgaard 2012: 48) The irony here lies in that the press of Oxford University have published this,
because Molly Crockett1 was recently interviewed by the Oxford Centre for Neuro – ethics, during
which it was described how a lot of moral behaviour can be altered with concoctions of chemicals.
Korsgaard's support for Kant's conformity to an instrumental reason is easily rejected by a chemist
manipulating the amount of serotonin in a particular person's brain. The bio – ethical aspect of
Kant's categorical imperative is not explored by Korsgaard. If she wanted to explore Kant's
categorical imperative through Sidgwick's The Method of Ethics or Williams Problems of the Self
to its fullest potential, a consideration of brain chemistry is necessary. Another professor who has
been invited to Oxford University to speak about the conflict between the neuro – biology of
morality and religion is Patricia Churchland of the California, San Diego. Korsgaard's reflections on
action, anger (thumos), choice, duty, freedom, good (eudaimonia), obedience, orthos logos,
passions and emotions omits these current bio – scientific advances.
Plato's Gorgias or Republic and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics are always worth juxtaposing
with Kant's Anthropology or Stuart – Mill's Utilitarianism; however Korsgaard's The Constitution of
1 Molly Crockett is now based in Zurich, but is formerly of Cambridge University.
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Agency: Essays on Practical Reason and Moral Psychology can not be taken seriously in the future,
as our epistemic grasp of bio – science is evolving at an extremely rapid rate. To claim that rational
action is merely self -consciously motivated is an over – simplification. There is a scientific under –
pinning to moral virtue and moral psychology that is side stepped by her in favour of the odd
Nietzschean aphorism and extracts from Kant's The Metaphysical Principles of Justice. Her
project's scope and content is admirable, however it could be enhanced with a discussion of how bio
– chemists are currently intervening with targeted individuals environments, behaviour and food to
manipulate their constitution of agency. Nano – technology is exponentially increasing and
evolving, thus many of these interventions where not possible in Kant's era and multiple
experiments are being conducted by scientists today that many Enlightenment – influenced
philosophers are unaware of.
On a larger scientific scale, the proliferation of nuclear weaponry has made it possible for
humanity to be eradicated quickly. This humanity – threatening technology was also not available to
Kant, which de-legitimatises all governments, as any government which creates materials for the
construction of a weapon similar to the AN602 hydrogen bomb, is doing so for Mafia – like warfare
reasons only. On the smaller scientific scale, prolactin, ὼκυτοκίνη (oxytocin) and other hormones
which act primarily as neuro – modulators on the brain, can all be manipulated in unwitting people
today in ways that where not possible when Clarke published his Discourse Concerning the
Unchangeable Obligations of Natural Religion (1706). It has now become apparent that a solution
to many of the problems within Korsgaard's moral philosophy can be deconstructed using the
scientific research currently being overseen by Margaret Chan the Director – General of the United
Nation's World Health Organisation.
The primary market for Korsgaard's single – authored monograph perhaps is the under –
graduate philosophy student. It is also an excellent teaching tool for Lecturers who have to prepare
under – graduate modules on rights and responsibilities. The book could form part of any English –
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speaking college's curriculum and will sharpen the acute, negotiation skills of any one wishing to
deploy a reasoned argument in a political seminar. Perhaps we need to restore the philosophical
values espoused by Korsgaard that are being eroded by contemporary innovations in science and
technology. Korsgaard teaches in a department which has been frequented by many great ethical
thinkers over the years such as James, Whitehead, Quine, Rawls and Nozick; however their core
values are radically disintegrating from the current abuse and misuse of nano – technology and
neuro – science. Innovative Military applications of science are being misused on ordinary citizens,
which seems to be the new categorical imperative of governments today.
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