Understanding Reasons

Normative thinking -- thinking about what to do, what to believe, how to feel, and so on -- is sometimes very complicated. Reasons represent the best conceptual device we have for thinking about what actions one should do, what beliefs one should have, and how one ought to feel. But the nature of reasons themselves is sometimes opaque. This dissertation comprises four papers, each of which focuses in a different way on the nature of reasons.Doctor of Philosoph