Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:50:29.262Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

moral heuristics and the means/end distinction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2005

barbara h. fried
Affiliation:
law school, stanford university, stanford, ca 94305 [email protected] http://www.stanford.edu

Abstract

a mental heuristic is a shortcut (means) to a desired end. in the moral (as opposed to factual) realm, the means/end distinction is not self-evident: how do we decide whether a given moral intuition is a mere heuristic to achieve some freestanding moral principle, or instead a freestanding moral principle in its own right? i discuss sunstein's solution to that threshold difficulty in translating “heuristics” to the moral realm.

Type
open peer commentary
Copyright
2005 cambridge university press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)