meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Ep. 370: Christine Korsgaard on the History of Ethics (Part Two)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

Mark Linsenmayer

Casey, Paskin, Philosophy, Linsenmayer, Society & Culture, Alwan

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We dive further into the text of lectures 1 and 2 of The Sources of Normativity (1996).

We give Korsgaard's account of the idea of reflective endorsement through Hume and Bernard Williams to get to her own view. When you come to know the origins of your moral sentiments, do you still stand behind them?

Get more at partiallyexaminedlife.com. Visit partiallyexaminedlife.com/support to get ad-free episodes and tons of bonus discussion.

Learn more about Mark's fall online political philosophy class at partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.

Sponsor: Visit functionhealth.com/PEL to get the data you need to take action for your health.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This fall, I will be teaching a new online class, foundational texts in political philosophy.

0:05.5

Learn more about it and express your interest at partially examinedlife.com slash class.

0:14.7

You're listening to Partially Examine Life, episode 370, part two.

0:24.0

We've been discussing the first two lectures within Christine Korsgaards, The Sources of Normativity.

0:30.2

And I think given how much time we spent with Hume before this,

0:33.4

and Hume is sort of her big first example of what this reflective endorsement method that

0:39.9

she ultimately is going to recommend. She's the first one. She talks at length who made use of that.

0:45.9

Okay, well, you know, let's do the anthropology. Let's do the psychology. Let's figure out what kind of

0:50.9

things that we actually do think is moral. But then now that we've done that, gone through that process, do we still think those

0:59.2

are moral?

1:00.0

If we discovered, we only think these are moral because your society has brainwashed you, because

1:04.2

it's the capitalist system, then we might reject morality, or at least reject that

1:09.2

morality.

1:09.9

If we do the Nietzschean thing and we say,

1:12.2

oh, this is just the bad Christian ideology that screwed you up, then we reject that.

1:17.6

Morality makes us sick, in other words. Nietzsche and Freud, she refers to both of them.

1:22.7

So a successful endorsement would say, you know, wherever we get, even if, you know, whether we do it

1:28.9

with what we've been handed down or what we find that as reflective adults, we now hold.

1:35.1

If we can go through that process of looking at its origins and still stand behind it, then, well,

1:40.4

that's pretty good. And so that seems to be what Hume did that, like, well, here's the

1:44.2

stuff we approve of. Well, do you like that you approve of that? I mean, it seems like you do.

1:48.9

You keep questioning it. Look at it through different points of view. Does it hurt other people to,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Mark Linsenmayer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Mark Linsenmayer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.