Jacob Ross

How is what an agent ought to do related to what an agent ought to prefer that she does? More precisely, suppose we know what an agent’s preference ordering ought to be over the outcomes of performing the various courses of action open to her. Can we infer from this information how she ought to act, and if so, how can we infer it? One view (which, for convenience, I will call ‘actualism’) is that an agent ought to φ just in case she ought to prefer the outcome that would result from her φ-ing to the outcome of that would result from her not φ-ing. Another view (which, for convenience, I will call ‘possibilism’) is that an agent ought to φ just in case all of her options (in the relevant domain) with maximally preferable outcomes involve φ-ing. I will discuss actualism and possibilism in parts 1 and 2, respectively. I will argue, in part 1, that actualism is very far from the truth. And I will argue, in part 2, that while the standard version of possibilism faces significant problems, there are much better versions of possibilism that avoid the objections to the standard view. Ultimately, however, I will argue that even the best forms of possibilism are not acceptable. Then, in part 3, I will offer a diagnosis of why the existing theories fail, and I will offer an alternative theory that is neither actualist nor possibilist in form, and that avoids the difficulties with the other theories.