Contrastive Reasons

Synopsis

When we deliberate about what to do or what to believe, we often have to weigh up competing considerations, or reasons, for and against the options. What we should do, in the end, is what these reasons most strongly support, even if there's something to be said for the other options. Justin Snedegar explores the ways in which our reasons supporting an option depend on the specific alternatives to which we are comparing it. The view developed in ContrastiveReasons should have consequences for philosophers' theories of how we should think about what to do and what to believe.