Why I’m still a proportionalist

Abstract

Mark Schroeder has, rather famously, defended a powerful Humean Theory of Reasons. In doing so, he abandons what many take to be the default Humean view of weighting reasons-namely, proportionalism. On Schroeder's view, the pressure that Humeans feel to adopt proportionalism is illusory, and proportionalism is unable to make sense of the fact that the weight of reasons is a normative matter. He thus offers his own 'Recursive View', which directly explains how it is that the weight of reasons is a normative matter. In this paper, I argue against Schroeder that a Humean ought to be a proportionalist. On my view, proportionalism is clearly an intuitive theory of weighting for a Humean, so we should resist it only if Schroeder can demonstrate either that there is a serious problem with the view, or that there is a better alternative. I then further argue that Schroeder fails to deliver on either condition. As a result, I conclude that there are good intuitive reasons for a Humean to be a proportionalist, and no good reason not to be.

What if ideal advice conflicts? A dilemma for idealizing accounts of normative practical reasons

“…To my knowledge, he is the only internalist who rejects proportionalism. The view has been defended explicitly by Evers (2014), Manne (2016), Rieder (2016), and Sobel (2017, and is implicitly endorsed by Smith (1994: 144). 26 One might like a more precise characterization of what a desire's phenomenological intensity, nagging, or pull amounts to.…”

“…26 One might like a more precise characterization of what a desire's phenomenological intensity, nagging, or pull amounts to. I don't have such an account, but that is because no proportionalist has offered one-not even Rieder (2016) in his recent defense of the view. Rieder's main concern is to defend proportionalism against Schroeder's (2007) criticisms.…”

Perceptualism and the epistemology of normative reasons

“…To appreciate this, it is helpful to note that for each object prescriptively affording φing, there is also a corresponding state of affairs with the 35 For defenses of the view against Schroeder's objections, cf. Evers (2014), Rieder (2016) and Fischer (2018, chapter 6.3). 36 As Siegel (2014) points out, situations may solicit action, too.…”

Promotion as contrastive increase in expected fit

“…Schroeder's rejection of this idea, what he calls "proportionalism" has not been widely adopted. For criticism, seeShackel (2013),Rieder (2016), andEvers (2013). For one recent attempt to articulate a proportionalist Humean view, seeManne (2016).…”