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Abstract

Duppose some form of idealization- and desire-based thesis of internalism about reasons is true, that an agent has reason to φ if and only if the ideal counterpart of the agent has a desire appropriately related to φ-ing. Questions then arise concerning how best to flesh out the thesis and what follows from it when properly understood. In this talk, I take up these questions. More specifically, I first engage with the well-known debate between two ways of understanding the thesis, namely, to treat the counterpart as an exemplar or an advisor, and make a case for a revised version of the exemplar model. Then I critically examine Eric Sampson’s recent challenge that internalism faces foundational difficulties because an agent may have multiple fully rational counterparts. I argue that we should follow Sampson in thinking that internalism should take the form of having multiple exemplars, but that the difficulties he raises rest on mistaken assumptions and therefore do not post a real threat. I go on to work out some of the theoretical consequences of internalism so understood, but remain neutral on whether they count in favor of or against the theory.

Bio

Professor Xinkan Zhao is an assistant professor in philosophy at Peking University, working primarily on normativity and metaethics. He is particularly interested in questions like whether normative facts can be identified with naturalistic facts, whether they are relativized (and if so, how), how various normative systems are related, the extent to which moral rationalism is true, among others. His most recent research focus revolves around theories that can be broadly categorized as constructivism about reasons, which he takes to be the best if not only hope of escaping the grip of error theory. Apart from normativity and metaethics, he takes an interest in metaphysics, including mainstream topics in the analytic tradition, and in comparative philosophy, with the hope that the native Chinese philosophical tradition receives the attention that it deserves in academia. His piecemeal thoughts have appeared in journals such as Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Synthese, and Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy.