Abstract

Anthony Price's recent book presents a contextualist approach to practical rationality. Price develops his proposal in four chapters. In the first one , he outlines a contextual account of the validity of practical inferences. This chapter deals with logicism. Logicism assumes that ‘there is a form of rationality within practical thinking that connects with the logical validity of a practical entailment’ . Price argues that although the principles of logic are ‘invariant and universal’ , their relevance in evaluating a practical inference is constrained by contextual factors related to the teleology of practical thinking and by the functional role of intentions in guiding our behaviour.In the second chapter , Price argues that the content of A's remark to B – ‘I must put in another 20p’, while both stand together on an underground platform in front of a dispenser – must be interpreted contextually, i.e. as referring to a particular end of A for which she needs to put in …