Embracing self‐defeat in normative theory

Abstract

AbstractSome normative theories are self‐defeating. They tell us to respond to our situations in ways that bring about outcomes that are bad, given the aims of the theories, and which could have been avoided. Across a wide range of debates in ethics, decision theory, political philosophy, and formal epistemology, many philosophers treat the fact that a normative theory is self‐defeating as sufficient grounds for rejecting it. I argue that this widespread and consequential assumption is false. In particular, I argue that a theory can be self‐defeating and still internally consistent, action‐guiding, and suitable as a standard for criticism.