Promising

Abstract

Abstract This chapter argues that promise-making is governed by a norm of competence, alongside a norm of sincerity. Thus a promise can be criticizable even if it expresses a sincere commitment to act in some admirable way: even if it is neither a false promise nor a wicked promise. The chapter shows how a competence norm is distinct from the norm of keeping one’s promises. Competence norms come in various strengths, from a very weak ‘keepability’ norm of avoiding unkeepable promises to a very strong norm of not making promises unless one knows one will be able to keep the promise. These correspond to the variety of possible epistemic norms on assertion which are more familiar from philosophical debate. Finally, the chapter briefly reviews the relationship between different accounts of why we should keep our promises, and different accounts of what competence norm applies to promise-making.