Internal reasons and the motivating intuition

Julia Markovits

pp. 141-165

in: Michael Brady (ed), New waves in metaethics, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

Abstract

Internalist theses, as they are usually stated, describe a necessary relation between an agent's having a reason and some other, usually motivational, fact about the agent. So, for example, internalists might claim that an agent can have a reason to perform some act only if he has a relevant desire, or only if he would be motivated to perform it in suitably idealized circumstances. Why should we accept internalism about reasons?