DAVIDSON ON THE OBJECTIVITY OF VALUES AND REASONS Article - 2017

Although he did not write on ethics, Davidson has written a few papers on the objectivity of values. His argument rests on his holistic conception of interpretation of desires. I examine here whether this argument can be sufficient for his objectivism about values. And supposing that the argument were correct, would it entail a form of realism about normativity and reasons ? I argue here that it falls short of a giving us a genuine form of moral realism. My case will rest on an examination of Davidson’s conception of value in relation to what he had to say on emotions and their relations to values.