Reasoning Practically

Reasoning Practically deals with a classical philosophical topic, the link between thought and action—how we think about what we do or ought to do, and how we move from thinking to doing. The essays by such renowned contributors as Donald Davidson, Barry Stroud, Cass R. Sunstein, Seyla Benhabib, and Gerald Dworkin, cover a range of issues raised when we link reason and practice. This collection connects state-of-the-art philosophical work with concrete issues in social life and political practice, making it of interest not only to philosophers, but to political theorists, legal scholars, and any researcher interested in the practical application of reason. Contents......Page 8 List of Contributors......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 Part I: The Practical and the Theoretical......Page 26 1. Objectivity and Practical Reason......Page 28 2. Practical Reasoning......Page 38 Part II: Reasoning about Practice......Page 50 3. Akrasia and the Principle of Continence, or What the Tortoise Would Say to Achilles......Page 52 4. When Practical Reason Plays Dice......Page 69 5. On Not Wanting to Know......Page 83 6. Ordering Selves......Page 96 7. Practical Reason and Incompletely Theorized Agreements......Page 109 Part III: The Practice Reasoned About......Page 132 8. Relationships and Responsibilities......Page 134 9. Love's Dominion......Page 149 10. Practical Reason and Moral Certainty: The Case of Discrimination......Page 162 11. The Embattled Public Sphere: Hannah Arendt. Jürgen Habermas, and Beyond......Page 175 12. Morally Speaking......Page 193 "When we act, our reason is slave to our passions, said Hume. And the two questions, according to Kant, that a philosopher should address are, What can I know? and What am I to do? The essays collected by editor Edna Ullmann-Margalit in Reasoning Practically address the often elusive link between reason, or theory, and practice, or action. With new contributions from leading philosophers and legal and political theorists, this star-studded volume connects philosophical work with a variety of concrete issues in social, political, and legal practice."--BOOK JACKET. These essays present research on the link between reasoning and practice. They cover issues raised by the move from thought to action, and represent an inquiry into the very nature of reason, reasoning and reasons, rationale, rationalization, and rationality.