Full Idea
The issue is not so much justification as motivation, that in virtue of which the self can be motivated to act on some conception of the good. ...How does a self bind itself to whatever it determines as its good?
Gist of Idea
The problems is not justifying ethics, but motivating it. Why should a self seek its good?
Source
Simon Critchley (Impossible Objects: interviews [2012], 2)
Book Reference
Critchley,Simon: 'Impossible Objects: interviews' [Politty 2012], p.41
A Reaction
That is a bold and interesting idea about the starting point for ethics. It is always a problem for Aristotle, that he can offer no motivation for the quest for virtue. Contractarians start from existing motivations, but that isn't impressive.