Motivating reasons: The state of the question

Abstract This article surveys the state of the currently burgeoning debate on motivating reasons, which spans across theoretical and practical philosophy. I focus on the metaphysical project at the forefront of this debate, that is, the quest for an account of the nature of motivating reasons, which covers both reasons for which we act as well as reasons for which we hold attitudes. The discussion is organized around two questions at the heart of this project: (i) What kind of entity are motivating reasons? (ii) How are motivating reasons related to the actions or attitudes we perform or hold for them?