The Demands of Reason

We may reason well or badly, depending on whether we satisfy two kinds of demands. We must register alland only relevant considerations. And we must respond correctly to them. But the demands of reason, as we call them, remain inadequately understood. Drawing on work from philosophy, psychology, political and legal theory, and the social sciences, this project aims to investigate the nature, power and reach of reasons demands. It aims to shed light on what they are; whether they have the positive transformative power attributed to them by enlightenment thinkers; and whether they can be adduced to explain the nature and origin of other important normative demands, such as the demands of morality, prudence and law.