Self-constitution : agency, identity, and integrity /

This book defends a Kantian conception of practical reason and morality, focusing on how acting on principle forms people as rational agents. The position taken is similar to Plato's emphasis on the importance of maintaining a harmonious soul. Korsgaard (Harvard) argues that rationality is the distinctive feature of human beings, and that in choosing to act on one principle rather than another "we are making ourselves into the particular people who we are." From this Korsgaard concludes that this self-constitution is the function of an action, one which provides grounds for evaluating an action. "A good action is one that constitutes its agent as the autonomous and efficacious cause of her own movements." The argument suffers from the same two weaknesses all arguments from function do: first, establishing a unique function; and second, establishing that this function has some authority over people. This thought-provoking, well-written book could be used in upper-division undergraduate courses, though it is more suited to professional philosophers. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers. J. H. Spence Adrian College