David Gauthier

David Gauthier ( born 1932 in Toronto ) is a Canadian-American philosopher. He is best known for its connection to Hobbes wrote in the contract theory of morality, which he describes in his major work, Morals by Agreement.

Life

Gauthier was born in 1932 in Toronto. He studied at the University of Toronto (BA Hons, 1954. ), Harvard University (AM, 1955) and the University of Oxford (B. Phil, 1957; D. Phil, 1961). Since 1979 he is an elected member of the Royal Society of Canada ( FRSC ).

From 1958 to 1980 he was a member of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, whose managing director, he was in the years 1974-1979. In 1980 he moved to the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds the rank of Professor Emeritus today. From 1983 to 1987 he served as its general manager. He has held the post of Senior Research Fellow at the city's Center for Philosophy of Science. As a guest lecturer, he taught, among others at UCLA, UC Berkeley, Princeton and the University of Waterloo. Gauthier is the author of numerous articles. A compilation of important essays can be found in the collection of essays dealing morality. As an author, he published next Morals by Agreement, inter alia, also Practical Reasoning, The Logic of Leviathan and Rousseau: The Social and the Solitary.

In addition to its systematic interest to the general moral theory he is interested in historical terms, especially for the development of political philosophy, and especially in the work of Hobbes and Rousseau. In addition, he is working on a theory of practical rationality, in which case less the classical Aristotelian or Kantian approaches rather than economic considerations are the starting point of his thinking.

As a young man he applied unsuccessfully for a seat in the Canadian Parliament. He authored irregular columns for various newspapers and worked as a freelance writer.

Some of Gauthier's students in America and Canada are also considered important philosophers. They conduct research primarily in the reports of the moral and legal philosophy and political philosophy.

The asteroid ( 15911 ) Davidgauthier is named after him.

Contribution to political philosophy and ethics

In the theory of value Gauthier represents a subjectivist approach which focuses on the economic preferences of individuals. He argues that moral constraints of inquiry-based maximum benefit behavior of individuals can be justified by prudential calculations always. So it would be wise to limit your preferences and other action subjects who have similar preferences to cooperate, rather than to try his luck as a lone fighter. Moral constraints are therefore justified as they are ultimately beneficial for the satisfaction of individual needs for the majority of all those involved. This Gauthier identified similar to utilitarianism moral reasoning as elaborate and subtle variant of a pure means-end reasoning.

Bibliography

Works by Gauthier

  • David Gauthier, Practical Reasoning: The Structure and Foundations of Prudential and Moral Arguments and Their Exemplification in Discourse (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963 ).
  • David Gauthier, The Logic of Leviathan: The Moral and Political Theory of Thomas Hobbes ( Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969).
  • David Gauthier, Morals by Agreement ( Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986)
  • David Gauthier, Moral Dealing: Contract, Ethics, and Reason ( Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1990).
  • David Gauthier, Rousseau: The Sentiment of Existence ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006).

Selected secondary literature

  • Raphael Iturrizaga: David Gauthier's moral contractarianism, ontos 2007, ISBN 978-3-938793-60-2
  • EF Paul, FD Miller, Jr. and J. Paul ( ed.), The New Social Contract: Essays on Gauthier (Oxford: Blackwell, 1988).
  • Peter Vallentyne (ed.), Rational Choice and Contractarianism: Essays on David Gauthier 's Morals by Agreement ( New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. )
  • David Gauthier and Robert Sugden ( eds.), Rationality, Justice and the Social Contract: Themes from Morals by Agreement ( Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993).
  • Christopher W. Morris and Arthur Ripstein (ed.), Practical Rationality and Preference: Essays for David Gauthier (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001)
  • University teachers ( Pittsburgh)
  • Philosopher ( 20th century)
  • Moral philosopher
  • Americans
  • Born in 1932
  • Man
Column (periodical) Axiology Prudence Integrated Authority File
221347
de