180064 VO-L Reasons (2023S)

In this course, we focus on several debates concerning various types of reasons in meta-ethics, normative ethics and philosophy of action. Most philosophers distinguish at least between normative reasons and motivating reasons. Roughly, normative reasons are reasons that favor or justify an action, whereas motivating reasons are reasons the agent takes to favor or justify her action and that guide her behavior. The nature of reasons is related in important ways to philosophy of action, to (normative) ethics, to political philosophy and the philosophy of law.
We will look at questions such as:
- What different types of reasons are there and what role do they play in various theories?
- What exactly are normative reasons?
- Are normative reasons necessarily connected to motivation (internal vs. external reasons)? Are normative reasons subjective or objective?
- How are normative reasons connected to concepts such as rationality or value?
- How do reasons connect with epistemology? Are there purely epistemic reasons?
- How do reasons relate to (human) action? What is the nature of motivating reasons and explanatory reasons? Are such reasons psychological states?