The Importance of Being Understood: Folk Psychology as Ethics

The Importance of Being Understood argues for an alternative to traditional accounts in contemporary philosophy of the power of folk psychology to explain our actions and beliefs. Morton examines key concepts in moral psychology including motive, belief and simulation, arguing that folk psychology plays a vital role in building co-operation between individuals. He challenges many contemporary philosophical assumptions about its usefulness for understanding our actions and beliefs and shows that folk psychology can make an important contribution to understanding ethics.