Following the Rules: Practical Reasoning and Deontic Constraint by Joseph Heath

by Joseph Heath

Excellent Book

Genres: Philosophy

Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Joseph Heath (born 1967) is a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. He also teaches at the School of Public Policy and Governance. He received his bachelor of arts from McGill University, where his teachers included Charles Taylor, and his master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees are from Northwestern University, where he studied under Thomas A. McCarthy and Jürgen Habermas. He has published both academic and popular writings, including the bestselling The Rebel Sell. His philosophical work includes papers and books in political philosophy, business ethics, rational choice theory, action theory, and critical theory.

Reviews

[Adam Gurri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be a standard read for anyone in the social sciences. Provides a much more sophisticated model of practical reasoning than the standard, filling in many of the blindspots of the typical instrumental model.

[saml · Rating 4 out of 5]

so so so cool. the starting point is the inadequacy of decision theory, as traditionally construed, in accommodating morally regulated behaviour, and this is then underwritten by a hypothesis of the biological regularities which must underpin this regulation. this constitutes something of a sceptical solution to moral doubts, reminding us we won't do without rules, to which heath adds a little about the transcendental necessity of our not doing so. the book is hardcore applied brandomism, which in this case was preaching to the choir, though i doubt it would, or should, convince the unconverted. it's all well-meted and clearly directed iconoclasm, and a lick of real enough science, culminating in that great feeling you get when someone convinces you that you need not worry so much, though you go on worrying. crazy that he's a habermas guy