My own view is that all these problems disappear if we read the equation the other way. When people have concerns, they express themselves by talking of reasons, and seeing the features that weigh with them as desirable or good. They do this in the ‘pull of the will and of love’. I believe we invent the normative propositions (‘This is good’; ‘That is a reason for action’; ‘You ought to do this’) in order to think about the concerns to demand of ourselves and others. We talk in these terms in order to clarify our motivational states, to lay them out for admiration or criticism and improvement.
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