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Single Idea 23745

[filed under theme 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason ]

Full Idea

We cannot expect that, even under conditions of full rationality, agents would all converge on the same desires about what is to be done in the various circumstances they might face.

Gist of Idea

We cannot expect even fully rational people to converge on having the same desires for action

Source

Michael Smith (The Moral Problem [1994], 5.9)

Book Ref

Smith,Michael: 'The Moral Problem' [Blackwell 1994], p.165

A Reaction

A very good argument in favour of the Humean view that desires are an essential part of moral motivation. Possible convergence of view is a standard hallmark of communal rationality.

Related Idea

Idea 17213 In so far as men live according to reason, they will agree with one another [Spinoza]

The 20 ideas from Michael Smith

23728 Analysis aims to express the full set of platitudes surrounding a given concept [Smith,M]
23723 In the Humean account, desires are not true/false, or subject to any rational criticism [Smith,M]
23724 A pure desire could be criticised if it were based on a false belief [Smith,M]
23727 Expressivists count attitudes as 'moral' if they concern features of things, rather than their mere existence [Smith,M]
23729 Moral internalism says a judgement of rightness is thereby motivating [Smith,M]
23730 'Rationalism' says the rightness of an action is a reason to perform it [Smith,M]
23731 'Externalists' say moral judgements are not reasons, and maybe not even motives [Smith,M]
23732 A person could make a moral judgement without being in any way motivated by it [Smith,M]
23733 Motivating reasons are psychological, while normative reasons are external [Smith,M]
23736 A person can have a desire without feeling it [Smith,M]
23735 Subjects may be fallible about the desires which explain their actions [Smith,M]
23738 Humeans (unlike their opponents) say that desires and judgements can separate [Smith,M]
23739 Goals need desires, and so only desires can motivate us [Smith,M]
23740 Humeans take maximising desire satisfaction as the normative reasons for actions [Smith,M]
23741 Is valuing something a matter of believing or a matter of desiring? [Smith,M]
23742 If first- and second-order desires conflict, harmony does not require the second-order to win [Smith,M]
23746 Objective reasons to act might be the systematic desires of a fully rational person [Smith,M]
23744 Defining a set of things by paradigms doesn't pin them down enough [Smith,M]
23743 Capturing all the common sense facts about rationality is almost impossible [Smith,M]
23745 We cannot expect even fully rational people to converge on having the same desires for action [Smith,M]