David Owens
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199691500
- eISBN:
- 9780191744938
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199691500.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
David Hume asked how it is possible to bind oneself by making a promise. Since breach of promise is, in essence, a bare wronging, Hume’s Problem of Normative Power is best understood as an instance ...
More
David Hume asked how it is possible to bind oneself by making a promise. Since breach of promise is, in essence, a bare wronging, Hume’s Problem of Normative Power is best understood as an instance of the Problem of Bare Wronging, namely the problem of how an act can be wrong even though it constitutes action against no human interest. Hume and John Rawls both formulate versions of the practice theory of promising which attempt to resolve this problem. They both assume that the function of a promise is to serve our interest in social co-ordination. We can solve the problem and vindicate the practice theory only by rejecting this shared assumption.Less
David Hume asked how it is possible to bind oneself by making a promise. Since breach of promise is, in essence, a bare wronging, Hume’s Problem of Normative Power is best understood as an instance of the Problem of Bare Wronging, namely the problem of how an act can be wrong even though it constitutes action against no human interest. Hume and John Rawls both formulate versions of the practice theory of promising which attempt to resolve this problem. They both assume that the function of a promise is to serve our interest in social co-ordination. We can solve the problem and vindicate the practice theory only by rejecting this shared assumption.
