On Knowing One’s Reason

This chapter is about the question whether one can act for the reason that p when one does not know that p. A negative answer to this question has been promoted by Unger, Hornsby, Hyman, and others, suggesting that the picture of motivation presented in my Practical Reality is not sufficiently respectful of the important differences between acting in the light of knowledge and acting in the light of mere belief, justified or otherwise. In responding to these criticisms, this paper revisits various themes from that book, in particular the non-factivity of reasons-explanations, and certain changes to the views expressed there are accepted.