Humean Externalism and the Argument from Depression

Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 9 (2):1-16 (2015)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Several prominent philosophers have argued that the fact that depressed agents sometimes make moral judgments without being appropriately motivated supports Humean externalism – the view that moral motivation must be explained in terms of desires that are distinct from or “external” to an agent’s motivationally inert moral judgments. This essay argues that such motivational failures do not, in fact, provide evidence for this view. I argue that, if the externalist argument from depression is to undermine a philo-sophically important version of internalism, it must make use of a general assumption about motivational states. However, at a reasonable level of abstraction, the needed assumption also implies that even desires could not be effective sources of motivation. For, just as depressed agents might sometimes lack motivation to act consistently with their moral judgments, they also sometimes lack motivation to pursue their desires. Moreover, the most plausible responses that Humeans can give to this general argument undermine the externalist case against internalism. Thus, there is a deep tension between the argument from depression for externalism and a fundamental Humean commitment.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Humean and anti-Humean internalism about moral judgements.Mark Van Roojen - 2002 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 65 (1):26-49.
The motivation argument and motivational internalism.Daniel Eggers - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (9):2445-2467.
Moral Judgment and Motivation.Chris David Meyers - 2002 - Dissertation, Loyola University of Chicago
Externalism, Motivation, and Moral Knowledge.Sergio Tenenbaum - 2011 - In Susana Nuccetelli & Gary Seay (eds.), Ethical Naturalism: Current Debates. Cambridge University Press.
The Humean theory of reasons.Mark Schroeder - 2007 - In Russ Shafer-Landau (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Volume 2. Oxford University Press. pp. 195--219.
Because I Believe It’s the Right Thing to Do.Joshua May - 2013 - Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 16 (4):791-808.
Doing Without Desiring.Steven E. Swartzer - 2011 - Dissertation, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Externalist moral motivation.Nick Zangwill - 2003 - American Philosophical Quarterly 40 (2):143-154.
Dispositions and fetishes: Externalist models of moral motivation.James Dreier - 2000 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 61 (3):619-638.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-07-09

Downloads
438 (#39,911)

6 months
12 (#122,242)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Steven Swartzer
Fordham University

Citations of this work

How Verbal Reports of Desire May Mislead.Alex Gregory - 2017 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 6 (4):241-249.
Depression’s Threat to Self-Governance.August Gorman - 2020 - Social Theory and Practice 46 (2):277-297.
A challenge for Humean externalism.Steven Swartzer - 2018 - Philosophical Studies 175 (1):23-44.
Action always involves attention.Wayne Wu - 2019 - Analysis 79 (4):693-703.

View all 11 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Slaves of the passions.Mark Andrew Schroeder - 2007 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The moral problem.Michael Smith - 1994 - Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell.
A Treatise of Human Nature.David Hume & A. D. Lindsay - 1969 - Harmondsworth,: Penguin Books. Edited by Ernest Campbell Mossner.
Moral realism: a defence.Russ Shafer-Landau - 2003 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The Language of Morals.Richard Mervyn Hare - 1952 - Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

View all 37 references / Add more references