Michael Smith's Research On Normative Reasonin

Michael Smith(Smith,Michael 1954-)is a famous contemporary ethicist,whose《The Moral Problem》has attracted widespread attention and discussion in the philosophical community upon its publication,and his moral thought has significant theoretical value and practical significance in modern metaethics.The study of Michael Smith’s normative justification theory as a perspective to grasp his moral thought is still in the emerging stage.This topic will discuss the construction of his moral thought from the normative justification view proposed by Smith,and further explore the limitations of his normative justification theory and its research value.The first chapter of this paper focuses on explaining the background of Smith’s moral problem and further understanding the formulation of Smith’s moral problem.The second chapter of this paper cuts into Smith’s moral problem from the perspectives of characteristics of moral problem,psychology of moral problem,and metaphysics,and analyzes Smith’s moral problem from different aspects.The third chapter deals with Smith’s critique of expressionism,externalism,and the "anti-Hume" thesis,respectively,in defense of his normative justification view.Chapter 4 then focuses on Smith’s distinction between motivational and normative reasons,and his argument for normative justification.It also analyzes the concept of rightness in terms of a normative justification to provide a solution to the moral problem.Although Smith’s normative justification theory has some limitations,it provides new ideas for solving moral problems and its place in metaethics cannot be ignored.