Full Idea
When we ask why people act in the ways that they do, we are sometimes enquiring into people's motives, at other times we want to uncover their reasons, and at others we want to know the causes of their actions.
Gist of Idea
People's actions are explained either by their motives, or their reasons, or the causes
Source
E.J. Lowe (Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind [2000], Ch. 9)
Book Reference
Lowe,E.J.: 'Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind' [CUP 2000], p.257
A Reaction
Helpful distinctions. Any one of these explanations might be collapsed into the others. Kantians, utilitarians and contractarians can study reasons, nihilists can study causes, and virtue theorists I take to be concerned with motives.