Critically discuss the importance of materiality for theories of practical reasoning.

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Critically discuss the importance of materiality for theories of practical reasoning.

1. On the face of it an agents reasons for acting would seem to depend on (1) factors about the agent themselves; and (2) factors concerning their environment and circumstances. This has often led to a claim of pluralism: that there are incompatible views on what courses of action there are good reasons to engage in. The importance of materiality then, would seem to rest on its distinctive feature of universality: that is, it is unique in virtue of placing a universal constraint on all agents irrespective of who they are, precisely because there are features which all human beings share by just by virtue of being practical beings. The claim of universality thus carries significance independent of what human beings think of it. It presents a reason for engaging in certain courses of action irrespective of an individual’s distinct interest and in this regard materiality is of brute significance. The claim would be that materiality places a constraint on the second of these factors which necessarily impinges upon the first, and thus provides, a reason for all agents to engage in certain courses of actions: In this case, fulfilling their material needs.

2. This essay challenges the significance of this universality. It argues that materiality is universal only in a very basic sense, and that beyond this the truth of our materiality and the constraints it places on our practical reasoning is very much localized, that is, depending on an agents circumstances and environment. I suggest also that there is a paradoxical feature involved in its recurrence in that whilst placing material constraints on all persons continually, for many the significance will become less and less as a mental process for engaging in securing material needs depending again on one’s social context or environment. I begin this essay by trying to root out the core features of materiality that I have suggested makes it distinct and more fundamental then the plurality of values people find reason to hold. I suggest that it may force people into relations they may not otherwise choose to engage in, and that we must take account of our engagement with others in that respect. I suggest also that, though materiality provides a basic constraint on practical reasoning, beyond this the constraint varies according to the agent’s circumstances.

3. It is possible to distinguish between actions and goals of original, reactive, and brute significance. Thus where some goal or engaging in some activity (for example, playing the guitar) gains its significance through one’s endowing it with importance, or some goal or activity gains its significance through other people attributing to it a significance which affects you, we can call these factors of original and reactive significance respectively. Materiality by contrast illustrates that a factor may carry significance independent of anyone’s attitude towards it; that is, it is a brute consideration that must be factored in to one’s practical reasoning. As a fact of brute significance it makes its importance an objective consideration, and to that extent beyond the reach of any particular culture or person, and their valuation of it. It is a truism that my engaging in an activity - for example, kicking a football – requires certain preconditions or prerequisites being met first: For example, enough oxygen to my brain, enough food and other general necessities of health which are necessary to engage in such an action. Simply, our materiality provides a universal precondition we have to fulfil before we do anything. Beyond this truism that touches all agents however, it is much less clear where the significance of our materiality is born out in our everyday reasoning.

4. Before we investigate its significance apart from our basic biological needs and in terms of our practical reasoning, a second important feature must be added to the brute significance of materiality as a constraint of necessity: Its recurrence. Simply, meeting our material needs is not a question of meeting our needs once-and-for-all, but is a condition that requires constantly meeting those needs throughout our life times. The claim here is that since all human agents must satisfy certain material needs continually it is a contingent fact of enormous consequence that the satisfaction of material needs becomes a central rather than peripheral part of human life. Thus for many the constraints of materiality operate in the form of making it necessary to enter into complex relations of dependence with others who can provide the resources necessary to engage in any extra-activity beyond the basic needs of sustenance.

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It is possible to discern a qualitative distinction between ourselves and other animals in this respect: As human beings we have the ability to produce the means to satisfy these material needs through labour, technology and so on and so forth. Whilst animals may interact with one another in a complex set of relations (as when ants work together), there is at least a difference of degree in our ability to provide for our material needs. This will often involve some sort of employment, which compatibly will involve other people, and so it follows that the very idea of human ...

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