Prudence and the Temporal Structure of Practical Reason s
According to a Humean present‐aim theory of rationality, there is no rational requirement of prudence: it is not rationally obligatory to act in light of one's foreseen future desires as well as one's current desires. It might therefore seem that on this view the acts of a rational agent could be absurdly incoherent over time. The author rebuts this worry by showing how the present‐aim approach to rationality itself generates rational constraints on the evolution of desires and hence of reasons. More generally, the author argues that reasons, whatever they are, are time‐relative rather than timeless.
Keywords: coherence, desires, Thomas Nagel present‐aim theory, prudence, rationality, reasons
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