Diotima: The Marist Undergraduate Philosophy Journal
OUT OF THEIR DEPTH? A Reply to Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer on the “Dualism of Practical Reason” David Veldran
Princeton University
Abstract
In this paper, I examine Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter Singer's (“LRS”)
attempt to resolve Henry Sidgwick's "dualism of practical reason” in their
book The Point of View of the Universe: Sidgwick and Contemporary Ethics . LRS
deploy an evolutionary debunking argument to undermine one half of Sidgwick’s
dualism (rational egoism) and elevate the other (rational or universal
benevolence). I argue that LRS fail to resolve Sidgwick’s dualism because
debunking arguments can also undermine rational or universal benevolence.
Introduction
I
n The Point of View of the Universe , Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek and Peter
Singer (LRS) deploy an evolutionary-debunking argument in attempt to
resolve Henry Sidgwick’s “dualism of practical reason.” Sidgwick thought that
the conflict between “rational egoism” (RE) and “rational benevolence” (RB)— two
“self - evident” axioms of ethics— was irreconcilable (LRS, 2014, Ch. 6). Roughly, RE
says we ought to have more concern for our own good than for others’, and RB— or
UB, the principle of “universal benevolence”— says we ought to have as much
concern for the good of any other individual as we have for our own good. LRS
believe the justification for the egoistic side of Sidgwick’s dualism can be debunked,
Volume VI (2023)
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