Value and the Weight of Practical Reasons

Abstract

Assuming that the value of options constitutes the proximate reason for pursuing them, some considerations encourage doubts whether we have reason to promote or to maximize value. A proper argument would require establishing a negative. Raising doubts is less demanding: it consists in explaining some aspects of the relation between values and reasons that enable us to dispense with the doubtful thesis, by illustrating alternative relations between values and reasons. Theses such as that value should be promoted show how to determine the strength of reasons. Abandoning the thesis reopens the question of how to do this. The doubt about promotion of value is not merely terminological. Even though the value of things and of activities is a reason to engage with them there are cases in which there is not always a reason to choose the best. The conclusion touches on the limits of the argument, and its importance.