PHILOS 2YY3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Habituation, Feedback
16 May 2018
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PHILOS 2YY3 – Jan 23 2018
A Defence of Relativism
Hume on Passions and Conventions
• Hume on morality:
• A. ‘eason is and ought only to be the slave of the passios -> i.e. reason does not in
itself provide any motivation for action, only emotion/desire can do that
o That is not something historically thats supposed to happen
o Reason is supposed to be in charge of passion and desire, and reigning those
two things in and providing principles that will motivate and guide action
o Hume gives reversal: he says this is not the way its supposed to happen, he
thiks reaso doest reall do athig
o Reason has instrumental value – engage in practical endeavour to get us to
realize these types of goals
o Ex: if you are here right now, studig at uiersit, reaso ist the thig that
got you here or got you out of bed, reason was instrumental and navigating but
reaso itself didt istigate that, did ot proide the otie fore to get ou
here
• B. Is/Ought distinction: cannot derive moral principles from reason a priori, nor from
relations of objects a posteriori
o Naturalist fallacy
o Not going to get moral principles from a priori reasons (pure reason prior to
experience) reason wont supply us with those things, it doest have the
capacity
▪ Even if it did, it could not translate back to real action
o We cant get morality looking at the way things are
• C. Virtue & vice reflect the sentiment and character of individual agents, not universal
reason or relations in nature
o When we claim a character to be virtuous or vicious we are not making a
judgement on a universal thing, we are making a judgement to their character
• D. Justice is an artificial virtue -> it is the product of a conventional coordination
undertaken by self-interested agents for the sake of security & stability
o Artificial is opposite of natural
o Individuals calibrate their activities according to their own desires or needs
o Justice originates from this – partial relatios fro fail, ou dot otiue to
not exist if your mother did not provide some sort of care for you (some form of
reciprocity), I have a special relation to this person who provided care for me
Tacit Convention Theory
• Harman: I adhere to the principles in my dealings with others because I benefit from
their adherence to these principles in their dealings with me and because I think that
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