Rationality, Morality, and the Nature of Human Action

The Concept of Rational Action

Humans are endowed with reason, which we can use more or less adequately. Rationality is the proper use of reason. It applies to:

• Our beliefs
• Our motives
• Our actions

A rational action is based on good reasons, forming rational beliefs and motives that drive the action for which they are reasons.

Individual Rational Action

This is the action of an individual agent whose reasons for acting are good reasons. Conditions for Individual Rational Action include:

• Awareness of the purposes of consistency and logic, structure, and practical feasibility.
• Priority of objectives over the means.
• Autonomous and universal ends: focusing on one's own welfare.
• Rational beliefs regarding the best ways.
• Rational behavior.

Rational Collective Action

A collective could be considered in two ways:

1. A unit that acts as a single agent.
2. A group of individual agents (G-agents collective).

When viewed as a set of individual agents, collective action achieves the best result for each member through:

• Economic solution: Achieved through individual rational actions.
• Political solution: Achieved through concerted action (conventions, cooperation, negotiation).

Collective Action as a Single Agent

When acting as a single agent, the action achieves the best result for each member of the collective through rational decision methods, based on the order of individual preferences and rules such as:

• Unanimity: The collective preference order is the preference order of every member of the group.
• Dictatorship: The collective preference order is the preference order of one specific member of the group.
• Majority: The collective preference order is the preference order of the majority of the members.

These methods are used irrespective of:

• The degree of intensity of individual preferences.
• Rational discussion aimed at agreeing on the collective good.

Moral Action and Morality

A moral action is based on moral reasons (values and norms). Morality is the set of values, moral principles, and norms (i.e., moral ideas). The morality of a person is defined by their set of moral decisions and actions.

Features of Moral Action

Key features include:

• Intimate Adhesion: Personal commitment to the norms.
• Sense of Duty: The feeling of obligation or duty accompanying moral norms.
• Absence of External Punishment: Moral norms are typically enforced internally, not by external legal systems.
• Relation to the Welfare of Others: Specifically, concern for the welfare of others.
• Universality and Impartiality: Moral judgments are universal and impartial, meaning one must ignore the identity of the people involved (including oneself) and judge actions based on their moral relevance, treating equal actions equally.

Moral Judgment

A moral judgment is therefore a proposition, often the result of deliberation, concerning any aspect of ethics or morality, applying to both the agent and others.

Types of Responsibility

Causal Responsibility

An individual is causally responsible for a state of affairs if they have produced it with their action, directly or indirectly.

Moral Responsibility

Moral responsibility is an attribute of a moral agent, determined either by their moral obligations or by the moral praise or blame their actions deserve.

Legal Responsibility (Liability)

Liability arises when a person has legal obligations or when they are deserving of punishment for a particular crime.