Reasons and ‘because’*

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper argues that action explanations of the form ‘because p’ do not indicate that reasons are non-psychological facts or propositions. ‘Because p’ has two different uses: In the explanatory use, ‘because’ operates on the alleged fact that p. In the reason-giving use, however, ‘because’ operates not on p, but on the agent’s belief that p: she does not describe but express her reason. I conclude that a proper analysis of reason-giving ‘because’-utterances suggests that reasons are mental states.