Abstract

What selects the reasons for which people actually do things from the vast array of what could be such a reason? The chapter argues that it depends on the qualities of the agent, on things like her eagerness, belief, and expectation, and what is the reason for which she does something. It does not follow, though, and typically it is not true that such qualities of an agent as eagerness, belief, and expectation themselves are the reasons for which she does something. We are reason selectors, but the reasons are still “out there”; they are not mental entities. A serious problem is presented by the case of the agent in relevant error, but such an agent does not in fact do for a reason what he does; he only took himself, mistakenly, to be acting for a reason.