The Role of Norms in Our Behavior
In a theory of practical rationality, the coincidence between our goals should be accounted for. There are a lot of shared goals amongst society. Society looks upon some goals as being "good" goals. For example the goal of obtaining an education, having concrete family ties and maintaining sense of individuality. Lawrence Becker's theory does a good job of accounting for our practical rationality because he can account for the coincidence between our goals. Becker incorporates the coincidence into his account, by discussing norms. In this paper, I will present Becker on his account of norms and show three examples of when following the norms of society can benefit agency.Lawrence Becker wants to reinterpret stoic ethics in his book. Stoics believe that we get facts about our physical world and about personal situation from experience, a posteriori. Critics of stoic doctrines state that stoics believe they ought not to try to do things that are known to be impossible. And that by following stoic advice, "we would never extend ourselves to press beyond what we currently think we can achieve (Becker 44)". Stoics believe that normative propositions that are constructed from an agency in the form of doing something the age
Lastly, Becker says that we cannot find any other source of norms and no other purposive in anything besides the endeavors of agents. In the case that you and another person, rational person, come to a disagreement, you will hopefully resolve the problem by coming to an agreement about the norms behind the disagreement itself. In today's society an alternative lifestyle is now becoming more acceptable. To conclude, I would like to mention that norms we follow such as education, strong family ties, and individuality, are looked upon as good by the society. The second step is to realize that endeavors "conceived as "societal facts" or institutions are not purposive" (Becker, 46). Becker list two sources for motivation. I realize Americans have a lot more opportunity to develop education in our agency then some other areas in the world. Becker explains in step two that society contributes endeavors to the conduct and character of individual agents. For example, you want to join a soccer league. For example, endeavors that are common to a large percentage of people over many generations will "appear to have a social reality independent of the individuals participating in it" (Becker 47). This endeavor would be considered purposive, and there would be certain practices about who can participate. For example, you will most likely be required to know about the rules and regulations of the game of soccer. As humans, we perceive ourselves as having to have some sense of individualistic ness that will allow us to pursue endeavors and develop agency. The first positive norm that comes to mind is the norm of education.
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