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FIX-DISSERTATION-2016.Pdf Acting From Thought About Action The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Fix, Jeremy D. 2016. Acting From Thought About Action. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33840677 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA ( $%&' Jeremy David Fix All rights reserved Dissertation Advisor: !hristine #* +orsgaard Jeremy David Fix Acting from Thought about Action Abstract Human action is unique* ,t is metaphysically unique because -e can act self.consciously* ,t is normatively unique because -e are subject to prudential" moral" and rational standards in action, -hereas other agents are not* /hat is the relationship bet-een these aspects of our action? , defend a constitutivist vie- about the nature of normativity -hose basis is the vie- that a capacity is such that a single principle describes its nature and is thereby normative for its development and exercises* , argue that this vie- ans-ers basic questions in metaethics and action theory and allo-s us to understand distinct notions of possibility essential to various conditions on our agency and theses about our agency* , then turn to questions about practical reason in particular, arguing against intellectualist and instrumentalist vie-s that in different -ays try to explain practical reason in terms of theoretical reason. , finally turn to develop a positive" non-reductive vie- of practical reason as the self.conscious 1ind of -ill* , explain how the general constitutivism of capacities affects our account of the self.conscious -ill in general" our determinate version of it" and the relationship bet-een them* iii Acknowledgments At various points -hile -riting this dissertation, , did not expect to survive my PhD" let alone complete it* , owe much of the credit for this -or1 to the four members of my committee and to various members of the faculty of the Harvard philosophy department" past and present* , cannot say everything that , -ish to say about everyone , -ish to ac1no-ledge in this space* Let me just say that my sense is that Harvard is one of the only departments in -hich , could have pursued these interests in these -ays" not only because of the people here sympathetic -ith some of my vie-s but more importantly because of the people -ho are not* Although many faculty members" including at least one of my committee members" probably think that the substance of my vie-s are not just -rong but headed in entirely the -rong direction, everyone has al-ays been supportive and in fact positively encouraging about my pursuing them and about my development of them* This 1ind of openness" not just to vie-s that you think are li1ely to be true but to vie-s that you think are almost certainly false" is unique in my experience* , cherish it* !hris +orsgaard is a perpetual inspiration, as deep and searching in her advising as she is in her own -ork" as charitable -ith her time and thoughts as she is -hen interpreting the great figures of the past so central to her -ork and the vie- of philosophy she passes onto her students* 3ed Hall no doubt did not expect to advise a dissertation about the nature of practical reason, let alone to bear -itness to the phoenix-li1e rebirth of an Aristotelian vie- of the living in terms of a metaphysics of the capacities of the living and their place in an explanation of the nature of normativity* Dic1 #oran’s -ork on self. 1nowledge dre- me to graduate study at Harvard* His support for the content of my -ork combined -ith criticism and advice on its early presentations helped me see through the confusion, my own and others" engendered by my first attempts to express these ideas" separating the problems from the merely problematic formulations* #att 5oyle and Doug Lavin are forever linked in my mind* They more than anyone else have influenced my thought on these issues" my approach to philosophical questions generally" how , interact -ith other philosophers and other vie-s" and everything else that is part of my philosophical disposition. From a graduate seminar in my first.semester to discussions at conferences during this last summer, they have shaped my graduate experience and my sense of how a graduate iv department should function. Selim 5erker is the ideal reader" charitable and critical in measures equaled only by his open-mindedness and excitement about any honest and searching attempt to address and ans-er a philosophical question* ,f one question characteri7es the approach to philosophical issues of all of my advisors" formal and informal ali1e" it is about how -e—the 9-e4 of philosophy" of humanity—should approach these issues and the -ay that often tacit ans-ers to that question shape subsequent vie-s of the subject matter of interest* The Practical Philosophy :raduate Student /orkshop -as often the site of my first approach to the issues that , discuss in this -or1 and to issues that , learned on those occasions , am better off leaving for later if not abandoning entirely* , thank the members of that -or1shop throughout the many years for helping me -ith my -ork and" more importantly" for sharing their -ork -ith me* , might have been able to finish this dissertation -ithout the deadlines that presentations provided* , might have been able to finish it -ithout having the privilege to read and discuss everyone else4s -ork in order to pleasantly distract me from the difficulties of my own. , and it -ould" though" have been all the -orse for it* , presented versions of ;,ntellectual ,solation” at the Safra !enter :raduate Fello-s Seminar and the =th Annual TVA !onference at the niversity of Tennessee" +noxville* , presented versions of ;The House of :oodness< at the 6afra !enter :raduate Fello-s Seminar, an 3th ?ear Seminar at Harvard" the Theoretical Philosophy :raduate Student /orkshop" and at the niversity of !alifornia" @iverside* Thanks much to the audiences at these tal1s* Thanks much to the graduate students -ho have spent time at Harvard and spent much time -ith me discussing philosophy and much else* @achel Achs" James 5ondarchu1" !olin !hamberlain, 5yron Davies" Johann Fric1" #icha :laeser" !handler Hatch" #ichael +essler" Allison +u1lok" Enoch Lambert" David Langlois" !eline Leboeuf" 5arry #aguire" Paul #arcucilli" Emily #c/illiams" Ali7abeth #iller, Bded 3a’aman, +ranti Saran, Paul Schofield" Jie-uh Song" Ale1sy Tarasenko-Struc" and +ate >rendenburgh* ?ou have been much better friends and interlocutors than my conduct al-ays -arranted* Thanks finally and most importantly to Thomas Pendlebury" -ho for the last t-o years has spent more time helping me become a better philosopher and a better person than , could reasonably expect v from a partner. , -ould spend a bunch of -ords extolling his virtues" embarrassing myself given that my literary talents are far too minimal to openly express such emotions in a clear and moving -ay* Fortunately" he strongly disli1es contemporary norms for ac1nowledgments* The best -ay for me to ac1nowledge him" then, is to leave off at this point* vi Table of Contents ,ntroduction & &* The House of :oodness C $* Practical Possibility DD D* ,ntellectual ,solation EF =* The Empty 9,4 &DG C* , do. /hat Happens0 &'F '* The Substance of !onstitutivism &EC 5ibliography $C= vii INTRODUCTION HUMAN BEINGS are reflective animals. Philosophy is one way that we exercise this capacity. et reflection is not limite! to a"stract tas#s. $eflection is an essential part of our lives& with an essential role in our exercises of theoretical reason in which we come to #now the worl! an! in our exercises of practical reason which we come to change the worl!. This !issertation is an essay in practical philosophy& an exercise of reflective reason a"out the nat%re of practical reason. As far as we #now& we are the only animal with this capacity to act self) consciously. As far as we #now& we are the only animal s%"*ect to moral and pru!ential re+%irements in our action as s%ch. I shall ar'%e that the metaphysical %ni+%eness of this capacity explains its normative %ni+%eness. ,e are s%"*ect to moral and pru!ential re+%irements "eca%se of the nat%re of our capacity to act. I first explain an! !efend a metaphysics of capacities of the living that says that a single principle !escri"es the nat%re of a capacity and is there"y normative for its !evelopment and exercises. This metaphysics esta"lishes a version of constitutivism& the view that what something is !etermines what it ou'ht to "e& at least with respect to things s%"*ect to internal normative standards. I ar'%e that it meets a "asic challenge of action theory a"out how to account for our action within a 'eneral metaphysics of reality without re!%cin' our action to somethin' else. I ar'%e that it also meets a "asic challenge of metaethics a"out how to account for scope and nat%re of normativity and the !ifferent #inds of normative standar!s that apply to !ifferent #inds of things. This approach places practical reason within a "roa!er metaphysics of capacities. It !oes not "y - itself offer an account of practical reason. ,ith only minimal ass%mptions a"out the nat%re of practical reason that are common 'round for most practical philosophers& tho%'h& this metaphysics is a"le to explain the notions of possi"ility within various conditions of a'ency and theses a"out our a'ency.
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