Abstract
- This paper argues that much contemporary thought about practical reasons is saddled with a questionable assumption. The assumption is that practical reasons owe their normative force to their metaphysical nature; or in other words, that “practical reason” is a metaphysical kind. This assumption is traced to an implicit foundationalism in views of practical reasons, which is itself a response to the threat of a form of skepticism: some practical reason must be able to stop a regress of practical reasons, on pain of there being no reasons for action at all. However, foundationalism about practical reasons, with its implicit commitment to practical reasons as a metaphysical kind, is not the only way to halt the skeptical threat. A contextualist alternative is sketched and some reasons are offered to prefer it.