Reasons for action : making a difference to the security of outcomes
(2023) In Philosophical Studies 180(1). p.333-362- Abstract
In this paper, we present a new account of teleological reasons, i.e. reasons to perform a particular action because of the outcomes it promotes. Our account gives the desired verdict in a number of difficult cases, including cases of overdetermination and non-threshold cases like Parfit’s famous Drops of water. The key to our account is to look more closely at the metaphysics of causation. According to Touborg (The dual nature of causation, 2018), it is a necessary condition for causation that a cause increases the security of its effect. Building on this idea, we suggest, roughly, that you have a teleological reason to act in a certain way when doing so increases the security of some good outcome. This represents a middle way between... (More)
In this paper, we present a new account of teleological reasons, i.e. reasons to perform a particular action because of the outcomes it promotes. Our account gives the desired verdict in a number of difficult cases, including cases of overdetermination and non-threshold cases like Parfit’s famous Drops of water. The key to our account is to look more closely at the metaphysics of causation. According to Touborg (The dual nature of causation, 2018), it is a necessary condition for causation that a cause increases the security of its effect. Building on this idea, we suggest, roughly, that you have a teleological reason to act in a certain way when doing so increases the security of some good outcome. This represents a middle way between the proposal that you have a reason to act in a certain way just in case this would cause a good outcome and the proposal that you have a reason to act in a certain way just in case this could cause a good outcome.
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- author
- Gunnemyr, Mattias LU and Touborg, Caroline Torpe LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Philosophical Studies
- volume
- 180
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 333 - 362
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85143214637
- ISSN
- 0031-8116
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11098-022-01869-4
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9d29eda9-cd68-43cb-9e85-723680e3c23f
- date added to LUP
- 2023-01-30 14:23:07
- date last changed
- 2023-10-26 14:52:50
@article{9d29eda9-cd68-43cb-9e85-723680e3c23f, abstract = {{<p>In this paper, we present a new account of teleological reasons, i.e. reasons to perform a particular action because of the outcomes it promotes. Our account gives the desired verdict in a number of difficult cases, including cases of overdetermination and non-threshold cases like Parfit’s famous Drops of water. The key to our account is to look more closely at the metaphysics of causation. According to Touborg (The dual nature of causation, 2018), it is a necessary condition for causation that a cause increases the security of its effect. Building on this idea, we suggest, roughly, that you have a teleological reason to act in a certain way when doing so increases the security of some good outcome. This represents a middle way between the proposal that you have a reason to act in a certain way just in case this would cause a good outcome and the proposal that you have a reason to act in a certain way just in case this could cause a good outcome.</p>}}, author = {{Gunnemyr, Mattias and Touborg, Caroline Torpe}}, issn = {{0031-8116}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{333--362}}, publisher = {{Springer}}, series = {{Philosophical Studies}}, title = {{Reasons for action : making a difference to the security of outcomes}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11098-022-01869-4}}, doi = {{10.1007/s11098-022-01869-4}}, volume = {{180}}, year = {{2023}}, }