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    Contractarian morality is not sufficiently other-regarding — Carmelics
    Home/Virtue Ethics
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Contractarian morality is not sufficiently other-regarding

    Social ContractVirtue Ethics
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    2 reasons for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Gauthier's 'constrained maximizer' still treats compliance as instrumentally rational, reducing moral obligations to contingent bargaining advantages.
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    • 2.When other-regarding behavior ceases to be individually advantageous, contractarian agents have no non-self-interested reason to maintain it.
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    • 3.Virtue ethics requires stable other-regarding dispositions that persist independent of personal benefit, which contractarianism structurally cannot generate.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Rawls's veil of ignorance generates principles of justice but leaves motivational gaps: agents who know their actual position have diminished reasons to honor the original agreement.
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    • 2.Without Kantian or Aristotelian grounding in genuine concern for persons as ends, contractarian compliance remains parasitic on enforcement mechanisms rather than internalized moral character.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Contractarian morality motivates moral action by appeal to self-interest rather than concern for others
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    • 2.A moral theory that appeals only to self-interest gives agents no reason to feel guilt or remorse for wrongdoing
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    • 3.A moral theory that fails to motivate other-regarding concern is not sufficiently other-regarding
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    Topics

    Virtue EthicsSocial Contract

    Connections

    2 topics

    Consequentialism1 linkedMoral Responsibility1 linked

    Related

    A moral theory that appeals only to self-interest gives agents no reason to feel...A moral theory that fails to motivate other-regarding concern is not sufficientl...Contractarian morality motivates moral action by appeal to self-interest rather ...Gauthier's 'constrained maximizer' still treats compliance as instrumentally rat...
    +4 moreShow less
    Rawls's veil of ignorance generates principles of justice but leaves motivationa...Virtue ethics requires stable other-regarding dispositions that persist independ...When other-regarding behavior ceases to be individually advantageous, contractar...

    Similar

    Stirner's conception of morality is narrow — limited to obligations to...83%African morality is a religious morality, with moral values and princi...82%A moral theory that fails to motivate other-regarding concern is not s...81%Respect for persons cannot be the principle from which the rest of mor...81%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: contractarianism
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    Two further critiques can be raised against contractarianism (Southwood 2010). According to the normativity objection, contractarian morality is not sufficiently other-regarding because it motivates morality by appeal to one’s self-interest rather than any concern of others. Because of this, the theory gives one no reason to feel guilt or remorse for wrongdoing, but rather, at most, self-directed anger or disappointment at acting irrationally. Southwood’s objection can be seen as one way of fill
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Without Kantian or Aristotelian grounding in genuine concern for persons as ends...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (2 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit