S. Turner, Explaining the Normative

Normativism, anti-normativism and humanist pragmatism

Maksymilian Del Mar

pp. 305-323

in: Human Studies 33, 2010.

Abstract

Stephen Turner’s latest book, Explaining the Normative (2010), is an incisive and important critique of what he calls “normativism.” Turner recognises that the philosophical family that refers to and is enthusiastic about normativity is diverse—for some, even those who would consider themselves members of it, it is really too diverse to be thought of as a unit (e.g. Finlay 2010). Nevertheless, Turner asserts that he has found “a common form of argument underlying various assertions about the necessity or indispensability of the normative, and therefore of normativity” (p. 9). Further, he argues that this common form of argument contains “a large number of genetic defects” (p. 9), it being the aim of the book to reveal them.