Author Description

Rationality Requires That We Intend The Means That We Believe Are Necessary For Achieving Our Ends. Instrumental Rationality Explores The Formulation And Status Of This Requirement Of Means-ends Coherence. In Particular, It Is Concerned With Understanding What Means-ends Coherence Requires Of Us As Believers And Agents, And Why. Means-ends Coherence Is A Genuine Requirement Of Rationality And Cannot Be Explained Away As A Myth, Confused With A Disjunction Of Requirements To Have, Or Not Have, Specific Attitudes. Nor Is Means-ends Coherence Strongly Normative, Such That We Always Ought To Be Means-ends Coherent. A Promising Strategy For Assessing Why This Requirement Should Exist Is To Consider The Constitutive Aim Of Intention. Just As Belief Has A Constitutive Aim (truth) That Can Explain Some Of The Theoretical Requirements Of Consistency And Coherence Governing Beliefs, Intention Has A Constitutive Aim (here Called Controlled Action) That Can Explain Some Of The Requirements Of Consistency And Coherence Governing Intentions. We Can Therefore Better Understand Means-ends Coherence By Understanding The Constitutive Aims Of Both Of The Attitudes Governed By The Requirement, Intention, And Belief.