Reasons for Action

by David Sobel (Editor), Steven Wall (Editor)

Overview

What are our reasons for acting? Morality purports to give us these reasons, and so do norms of prudence and the laws of society. The theory of practical reason assesses the authority of these potentially competing claims, and for this reason philosophers with a wide range of interests have converged on the topic of reasons for action. This volume contains eleven essays on practical reason by leading and emerging philosophers. Topics include the differences between practical and theoretical rationality, practical conditionals and the wide-scope ought, the explanation of action, the sources of reasons, and the relationship between morality and reasons for action. The volume will be essential reading for all philosophers interested in ethics and practical reason.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781139088565
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/27/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	480 KB

About the Author

David Sobel is Robert R. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and the Moral Sciences at the University of Nebraska.

Steven Wall is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy, University of Connecticut.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction David Sobel and Steven Wall; 2. Intention, belief, and instrumental rationality Michael Bratman; 3. Reasons: practical and adaptive Joseph Raz; 4. The explanatory role of being rational Michael Smith; 5. Practical competence and fluent agency Peter Railton; 6. Practical conditionals James Dreier; 7. Authority and second-personal reasons for acting Stephen Darwall; 8. Promises, reasons, and normative powers Gary Watson; 9. Regret and irrational action Justin D'Arms and Daniel Jacobson; 10. Mackie's motivational argument Philip Clark; 11. The truth in ecumenical expressivism Michael Ridge; 12. Voluntarist reasons Ruth Chang.

Editorial Reviews

Sobel and Wall’s collection Reasons for Action brings together twelve important essays about reasons for action, practical reasoning, and rational choice, by some of the leading philosophers in the field today (as well as a useful introduction by the editors themselves). The essays approach these issues from several different points of view, but every one of these essays is an illuminating contribution to the contemporary debates. Everyone who is seriously interested in these questions will find their understanding enriched by a careful study of these essays.”
—Ralph Wedgwood, University of Oxford

From the Publisher