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Professor Mark Schroeder, "The Unity of Reasons"

November 14, 2014
All Day
347 University Hall

Abstract: Sometimes, we think of reasons as supporting things that we can do - for example, to come to the talk on Friday, or to believe that the talk will be interesting.  Other times, we think of reasons as supporting contents - for example, that the talk will be interesting.  In this talk I'll be concerned with the question as to which, if either, if these ways of thinking about reasons is prior to the other.  A different way of putting this question, which I'll elaborate on, is whether reasons are unified from a 'practical' or an 'epistemic' perspective.  One of the main ideas to be introduced will be that there are structural features of how reasons contribute or relate to what we ought to do or believe that pose at least a prima facie obstacle to either direction of priority, leaving it very puzzling what reasons for belief and reasons for action have in common.  I'll also explore some strategies for getting around these obstacles, and argue that they lead to surprising but fruitful commitments.

Mark Schroeder is a Professor at the University of Southern California