ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 argues that the psychological account of (some) motivating reasons is compatible with a non-psychological account of normative reasons. The psychological view does not stipulate psychological motivating considerations. In other words, it does not state that motivating reasons in the deliberative sense are psychological. It is concerned merely with motivating reasons in the explanatory sense. There may be the psychological explanatory reasons that the psychologist defends, however, even if a non-psychological normative reason for which an agent acts were identical to a motivating reason in the explanatory sense, and even if a non-psychological normative reason for which an agent acts entails a corresponding non-psychological explanatory reason. This can be shown by pointing out that there can be multiple explanatory reasons for the same action, some of which are psychological and some of which are non-psychological. Reasons of both kinds may qualify as motivating reasons by indicating the agent’s aim and by distinguishing actions from behavior.
