H. A. Prichard
The sense of obligation cannot be proved: we grasp it directly, by looking at the situation.
Life
British philosopher (1871-1947), professor at Oxford. His paper "Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?" (1912) argues that one cannot prove why one ought to act: the sense of obligation is grasped directly, not derived from interest or from the good. He is among the founders of moral intuitionism.
Main works
Moral obligation is immediate and cannot be proved.
A critical study of the Critique of Pure Reason.
A posthumous collection of essays.
In his own words
« The sense of obligation to do, or of the rightness of, an action of a particular kind is absolutely underivative or immediate. »
« The only remedy lies in actual getting into a situation which occasions the obligation, or -- if our imagination be strong enough -- in imagining ourselves in that situation, and then letting our moral capacities of thinking do their work. »
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceMoral and other basic knowledge is grasped by direct intellectual apprehension, not derived from experience.
Prichard, Knowledge and Perception (1950)
Obligation is basic and cannot be derived from good outcomes or self-interest; we see directly what we ought to do.
Prichard, "Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?", Mind (1912)
As an intuitionist he treats obligations as real features of situations that we apprehend, not as projections.
Prichard, Moral Obligation (1949)