Filozofska istraživanja, Vol. 31 No. 2, 2011.
Original scientific paper
Utilitarianism, Internal Perspective, and the Question of Suicide
Elvio Baccarini
orcid.org/0000-0002-6771-9859
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
In a recent book, Christopher Cowley has expressed the problems of the concept of rationality related to the utilitarian discussion about suicide, as well as in general the concept of rationality which is directed by the appeal to external reasons. Contrary to this, Cowley defends the internal perspective as the only trustworthy in such decisions. I will analyze directly his criticism of Richard Brandt and David Hume. The intention of the paper is to offer a more precise interpretation of Hume (in comparison to that offered by Brandt and Cowley) and compare the arguments for and against internal and external reasons. The conclusion is a conditioned acceptance of the perspective of internal reasons.
Keywords
Richard Brandt; Christopher Cowley; David Hume; suicide; utilitarianism
Hrčak ID:
72757
URI
Publication date:
8.9.2011.
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