Single Idea 3255

[catalogued under 23. Ethics / D. Deontological Ethics / 6. Motivation for Duty]

Full Idea

There are reasons for action, and we must discover them instead of deriving them from our preexisting motives - and in that way we can acquire new motives superior to the old.

Gist of Idea

We find new motives by discovering reasons for action different from our preexisting motives

Source

Thomas Nagel (The View from Nowhere [1986], VIII.1)

Book Reference

Nagel,Thomas: 'The View from Nowhere' [OUP 1989], p.139