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Reasons Internalism and the Problem of Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2020

Andrew Spaid Open the ORCID record for Andrew Spaid [Opens in a new window]
Andrew Spaid*
Affiliation:
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
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[email protected]
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Abstract

This article looks at a version of the “too-few-reasons” problem for reasons internalism stemming from the existence of cases of clinical depression. People with clinical depression lack motivation to do things like go to work or seek treatment for their depression. Internalism appears committed to saying that such people lack reasons to do these things since internalism makes having reasons depend on having motivations. But, intuitively, depressed people do have reasons to do them. This article considers a number of possible solutions to this problem, such as that depressed people have actual or ideal desires which explain their reasons, and argues that these solutions do not succeed.

Type
Article
Information
Utilitas , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 1 - 16
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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