The Publicity of Practical Reasons

Abstract

This dissertation consists of three papers relating to the theme of the shared nature of practical reasons. The first two, taken together, aim to derive and explain the thesis that practical reasons are public: If R is a reason for X to do A in C, then R is a reason for anyone not to interfere with X’s doing A in C. I derive this significant thesis about reasons from an independently motivated non-cognitivist account of normative judgment, in particular, “ought” judgments and reasons judgments. The third paper provides a theory of blameworthiness that grounds the blameworthiness of agents in failure to recognize and respond to these public reasons, both practical and theoretical.