[Revised entry by Maria Alvarez and Jonathan Way on August 22, 2024.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography]
Why should the UN intervene in this international crisis? Why did the Ancient Egyptians mummify their dead? Should Huck Finn have helped Jim escape and, if so, why? Why is she selling her car? What shall we do this evening? Questions like these that explicitly or implicitly ask for reasons, specifically reasons for action, are ubiquitous. Most contemporary philosophers who have sought to understand the nature of reasons for acting start by distinguishing two kinds: “normative” reasons – that is, reasons which, very…

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