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Show Anonymous Praise for Rationality and the Structure of the Self, Volume I: The Humean Conception 508 shows, quite convincingly, I think, that the behind the veil of ignorance argument is undermined by what she describes as the continuity thesis. I came away from her discussion with a much clearer sense of one problem that besets the instrumentalism to which (at least A Theory of Justice) Rawls was committed. Again, I found her discussion of Nagel and of the free rider problem (Chapter XI) very illuminating. Chapter [IV]… testifies to her understanding of the more technical literature in decision theory that really does reflect the Humean conception of the self. What she has to say here is very interesting. This is an extremely ambitious project dealing with philosophical issues of first importance, especially against the backdrop of the emergence, with the latter part of the twentieth century, of vial constructivist views of moral theory - Kantian and Humean - and correspondingly rival views of the self upon which, as Prof. Piper argues, such moral views depended. … the strategy of the whole is not to just reject the Humean account in favor of the Kantian, but to show that the Humean account is best incorporated into the Kantian account, albeit in a subordinate position. … One very important contribution that this book makes is the synthesis it achieves of a very wide range of work. Ordinarily, one finds that authors who approach this topic are content either to focus on the relevant historical texts (from Hume and Kant), together with various more or less contemporary interpretations of these texts, or to approach the subject analytically, but with an emphasis on either contemporary work in action theory, or in moral theory (but rarely both). In this book all three perspectives are woven together - with extended discussions of the likes of Brandt, Kim, Goldman and David Lewis. Similarly, … Prof. Piper seeks to survey not just the standard view of, e.g., Von Neumann and Morgenstern and Savage, but relate this to such alternative views as those of Allais, and also the distinctive viewpoint of Ramsey. As the footnotes in particular repeatedly make clear, Prof. Piper is in fact conversant with the full range of ideas and issues associated with expected-utility theory, as treated by philosophers, economists, psychologists and decision theorists. … I cannot think of any other work that manages to achieve such a synthesis of so many perspectives. … The present volume seeks to show … that the motivation model leads to a view of persons as driven by dissatisfaction, insecurity and feelings of inferiority, and as incapable of impersonality, impartiality or self-reflection … [This] discussion is really very interesting: This was one place in particular that I thought her analysis was very powerful, and quite original, particularly © Adrian Piper Research Archive Foundation Berlin |
