The Yeoh Tiong Lay Centre for Politics, Philosophy and Law welcomes Prof. Michael Smith next month as part of the 2022/23 Series in Practical Agency. Join us on the 15 March as Smith delivers his lecture entitled Two Conceptions of Ideal Agents.

 

Title:

Two Conceptions of Ideal Agents

 

Abstract:

Humean and Kantian views of reasons for action differ in significant ways. I argue that the differences between them can be traced to their very different conceptions of what ideal agents and the world in which they live would have to be like. Furthermore, I argue that when we see the differences between them in this light, it becomes clear that the Kantian's view is more plausible than the Humean's.

 

Speaker Bio:

Michael Smith is McCosh Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. He is the author of _The Moral Problem_ (1994), _Ethics and the A Priori_ (2004), and the co-author, with Frank Jackson and Philip and Pettit, of _Morality, Mind, and Explanation_ (2004). His John Locke Lectures, _A Standard of Judgement_, given at Oxford University in 2017, will be published by Oxford University Press.