Discussion of Nomy Arpaly’s Unprincipled Virtue for Philosophical Studies

effectively against many central tenets of moral philosophy and action theory, and advances a new view of her own. The book is a joy to read—clearly written, clever throughout, and compelling in its descriptions and analyses of some imperfect agents who have been widely misunderstood. Arpaly argues for a view about moral worth, or praiseworthiness. Her central claim is that praiseworthiness is a matter of acting in response to the moral reasons: whatever features in fact make an action right, it is acting in response to those features that makes an agent praiseworthy. For example, consider Huckleberry Finn who believes that turning in the escaped slave Jim to the authorities is the right thing to do. Huck does not turn Jim in; he is surprised at himself and does not know why he acts this way. Arpaly argues that there is a version of this case (indeed, she claims it is the version Twain intended) in which Huck acts in response to the fact that Jim is a person, just like Huck, who deserves to be saved from slavery. Because this fact is what makes Huck’s action right, Huck is praiseworthy—even though Huck acts against his best judgment, thinks what he is doing is wrong, wishes he would act differently, and does not articulate to himself the reasons on which he acts. As Arpaly understands the case, it undermines the following commonly held claims: (i) an agent acts on reasons only if she articulates those reasons to herself and has them in mind as she acts, (ii) an agent is morally responsible only if she is agent-autonomous; for example, an agent who is moved to act by motives she wishes did not move her is not morally responsible, (iii) an agent acts irrationally if she acts against her best judgment. While Arpaly has much more to say against (i), (ii), and (iii), the case of Huck does nicely illustrate that they all fail. Of course, there is much of the book I will not be able to discuss. To give some of its overall flavor, I will list three of my favorite lines.