Normative Pluralism: Resolving Conflicts Between Moral and Prudential Reasons Sagdahl Mathea Slttholm

The potential conflicts between morality and self-interest lies at the heart of ethics. Mathea Slttho Sagdahl grapples with the more fundamental question of what we ought to do all things considered, but argues that there may be no simple answer to this question. However, moral philosophers sometimes think of their task as trying to gain knowledge simply of what we are morally required to do, leaving aside the larger normative question of what we ought to do all things considered, while others have assumed that what we ought to do all things considered just is what we morally ought to do.

Instead of making such an assumption, Sagdahl defends a pluralist theory of normativity where Behind the assumption that there is something we ought to do all things considered, often lies another undefended assumption that the strength of moral and prudential reasons actually are comparable.