Following the rules : practical reasoning and deontic constraint /

Heath (Univ. of Toronto), who has worked for more than a decade on the formal, social, and ethical aspects of practical reasoning, pushes against dominant trends by arguing that rule following, or obeying "deontic constraint," is rational even if its consequences are suboptimal for the agent. Heath clears ground for his view by highlighting the failures of purely instrumental accounts of rationality and the missteps of noncognitivist accounts of preference. Next, drawing on evolutionary theory and Kantian "transcendental" argumentation, Heath skillfully makes the case that rule following, understood as a biological disposition to imitation and norm conformity, is a necessary precondition of cultural evolution, morality and altruism, human ultrasociality, language, thought, and rationality itself. Thus, he concludes that rule following is eminently rational. Last, Heath fruitfully applies his view to problems surrounding akrasia and normative ethics. The content is wide-ranging, intricate, and sometimes technical, but Heath carefully guides the reader with clear explanations and examples, making his work accessible to advanced students and above. Ethicists and social theorists skeptical of strictly consequentialist explanations of human behavior should read this penetrating book. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers. C. A. Striblen Doane College