Abstract

Christine Korsgaard is concerned with what justifies the claims morality makes on us; that is, the normative question. She puts forth a thesis in Sources of Normativity in which she tries to address and solve the normative problem. Her thesis relies on the reflective capacity of our minds which enables us to come up with a self-conception, or identity in which our principles and values are reflected. When we ask ourselves what justifies the claims morality makes, we are able to answer that it is our self conceptions that define and enforce the moral standards that we ourselves have set. I think too much emphasis is put on self-identity. Compelling as Korsgaard's thesis is, I suggest that she fails to examine some significant elements in moral life; namely, emotions (and how they threaten or uphold her thesis) and luck (and the ways in which moral life is vulnerable to it). After examining Korsgaard's thesis, I look at those elements I think are missing from her work. By including the alternative perspectives of Martha Nussbaum and Robert Solomon, I hope to develop and enrich the project Korsgaard starts.