Do we have normative powers?
‘Normative powers’ are capacities to create normative reasons by our willing or say-so. They are significant, because if we have them and exercise them, then sometimes the reasons we have are ‘up to us’. But such powers seem mysterious. How can we, by willing, create reasons? In this paper, I examin...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2020
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| _version_ | 1826296548918558720 |
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| author | Chang, R |
| author_facet | Chang, R |
| author_sort | Chang, R |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | ‘Normative powers’ are capacities to create normative reasons by our willing or say-so. They are significant, because if we have them and exercise them, then sometimes the reasons we have are ‘up to us’. But such powers seem mysterious. How can we, by willing, create reasons? In this paper, I examine whether normative powers can be adequately explained normatively, by appeal to norms of a practice, normative principles, human interests, or values. Can normative explanations of normative powers explain how an exercise of the will can afford us special freedom in determining our reasons? I argue that normative approaches to answering this question prove to be inadequate. To vindicate the thought that normative powers can make our reasons ‘up to us’, we need an altogether different approach to understanding them, one that is located not in the normative but in the metaphysical. I end the paper by sketching a metaphysical explanation of normative powers. This metaphysical defence of normative powers provides a window into a different, more agent-centered way of thinking about rational agency. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:18:03Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:ca10104a-4102-4fd1-b55c-c679285c01cd |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:18:03Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ca10104a-4102-4fd1-b55c-c679285c01cd2022-03-27T07:04:39ZDo we have normative powers?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ca10104a-4102-4fd1-b55c-c679285c01cdEnglishSymplectic ElementsOxford University Press 2020Chang, R‘Normative powers’ are capacities to create normative reasons by our willing or say-so. They are significant, because if we have them and exercise them, then sometimes the reasons we have are ‘up to us’. But such powers seem mysterious. How can we, by willing, create reasons? In this paper, I examine whether normative powers can be adequately explained normatively, by appeal to norms of a practice, normative principles, human interests, or values. Can normative explanations of normative powers explain how an exercise of the will can afford us special freedom in determining our reasons? I argue that normative approaches to answering this question prove to be inadequate. To vindicate the thought that normative powers can make our reasons ‘up to us’, we need an altogether different approach to understanding them, one that is located not in the normative but in the metaphysical. I end the paper by sketching a metaphysical explanation of normative powers. This metaphysical defence of normative powers provides a window into a different, more agent-centered way of thinking about rational agency. |
| spellingShingle | Chang, R Do we have normative powers? |
| title | Do we have normative powers? |
| title_full | Do we have normative powers? |
| title_fullStr | Do we have normative powers? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do we have normative powers? |
| title_short | Do we have normative powers? |
| title_sort | do we have normative powers |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT changr dowehavenormativepowers |