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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
In this article I want to investigate what sort of explanation is being given when someone says “He did x out of such and such emotion” or “Such and such emotion was his motive tor doing x”. In order to do this I will try and argue for the following:
(1) The term ‘motive’ should not be limited to contexts where we expect that the motivation does not fall within the standard range.
(2) The motive which is said to be behind an actual action is to be construed as a cause.
(3) The motive which is said to be behind an actual action is to be construed as entailing a want which is a cause.
(4) However not all actions which can be said to be done out of some motive can be said to be actions which the agent wanted to do.
I would like to thank the referees for CJP for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
