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Full Idea
The obligation to keep a promise does not derive from the institution of promising, ..but from the fact that in promising I freely and voluntarily create a reason for myself.
Gist of Idea
Promises hold because I give myself a reason, not because it is an institution
Source
John Searle (Rationality in Action [2001], Ch.6.IV)
Book Ref
Searle,John R.: 'Rationality in Action' [MIT 2001], p.198
| 7 | Surely you don't return a borrowed weapon to a mad friend? [Plato] |
| 7127 | If men are good you should keep promises, but they aren't, so you needn't [Machiavelli] |
| 2374 | In the violent state of nature, the merest suspicion is enough to justify breaking a contract [Hobbes] |
| 22442 | If lies were ever acceptable, with would undermine all duties based on contract [Kant] |
| 5906 | Promise-keeping is bound by the past, and is not concerned with consequences [Ross] |
| 18622 | Promises create a new duty to a particular person; they aren't just a strategy to achieve well-being [Ross] |
| 4252 | Promise keeping increases reliability, by making deliberation focus on something which would be overlooked [Williams,B] |
| 3838 | Promises hold because I give myself a reason, not because it is an institution [Searle] |