Natural Reasons

An important, densely argued, ingenious book about the problems of choice among conflicting values and about how the concept of a person influences and is influenced by rational decisions about those values....The formidable array of disciplines in what she describes as a doggedly interdisciplinary work is truly impressive. The argument is everywhere perceptive and subtle, detailed and penetrating. --The Philosophical Quarterly Its scale, its scope, its argumentativeness, its assurance of tone, inspire nothing but awe in the reader. --International Studies in Philosophy A large, colourful, powerful, and complicated book....It will have an important place in the philosophical literature. --Times Literary Supplement I applaud warmly. There is something to think about on every page and the book's ambition is inspiring. --Philosophy Highly recommended for any library supporting at least an undergraduate major in philosophy. --Choice An important, densely argued, ingenious book about the problems of choice among conflicting values and about how the concept of a person influences and is influenced by rational decisions about those values....The formidable array of disciplines in what she describes as a doggedly interdisciplinary work is truly impressive. The argument is everywhere perceptive and subtle, detailed and penetrating. --The Philosophical Quarterly Its scale, its scope, its argumentativeness, its assurance of tone, inspire nothing but awe in the reader. --International Studies in Philosophy A large, colourful, powerful, and complicated book....It will have an important place in the philosophical literature. --Times Literary Supplement I applaud warmly. There is something to think about on every page and the book's ambition is inspiring. --Philosophy Highly recommended for any library supporting at least an undergraduate major in philosophy. --Choice Impressive....A work of considerable intelligence and originality. --London Review of Books Susan L. Hurley's Natural Reasons: Personality and Polity is a brilliant, comprehensive, and persuasive defense of the objectivity of values. She supplies solid support for what many have publicly denied, but most of us secretly believe, that it is possible to act rationally in the face of conflict, and that our moral disputes do not show there is no answer to the question what should be done. --Donald Davidson, University of California, Berkeley Hurley's Natural Reasons seems to me a brilliant book. It shows, throughout, a very powerful intelligence and great originality. --Derek Parfit, All Souls College, Oxford Dr. Hurley shows herself in this book to be a learned, intelligent and original philosopher, with competence not only in philosophy but in adjacent disciplines of decision theory, economics, law and political theory. Mind The book has remarkable breadth of scope and depth of insight. Its placing of value with respect to the mental is wonderfully illuminating. The book is a compelling defense of the possibility of aspiring to objectivity on practical questions. --John McDowell, University of Pittsburgh Susan Hurley has put us greatly in her debt by helping to clarify the nature of some of the hardest problems in meta-ethics. --Amartya Sen, Harvard University