Talk: Singa Behrens (Bielefeld)

Title:

The Structure of Normativity

Abstract:

In this talk I defend the so-called X-First programme. According to X-First accounts, there is a single normative primitive that is normatively fundamental and involved in explaining all other normative features. Recently, Daniel Wodak (2020) has argued against X-First accounts by questioning their assumption that there is a single normative primitive. Wodak defends an alternative view, according to which normativity is the disjunction of multiple normative features. I argue that disjunctive accounts either force us to abandon large parts of our ambitions to understand normativity, or are themselves committed to the X-Firster’s methodology. The argument is simple: If the disjunctive analysis of normativity has multiple disjuncts, it becomes incredibly difficult to explain the unity of normativity and prima facie plausible explanatory connections between different normative features. If, on the other hand, the number of disjuncts is small, we need local X-first accounts for each normative element in the explanatory base. These considerations, I argue, provide us with a positive argument for the X-First programme: We need to investigate X-First accounts in order to better understand the structure of normativity.