Existential reasons for choosing to believe

Abstract Direct doxastic voluntarism (DDV) holds that we have direct voluntary control over our beliefs. This article offers a modest defence of DDV by focusing on the role in belief formation of what I call existential reasons : reasons a person has to adopt certain actions or attitudes because they wish to be a particular kind of person. I argue that, in at least some cases, a person may choose to believe a proposition because they wish to be the kind of person who would hold that belief. I show how existential belief choices avoid prominent objections to DDV. I conclude by reflecting on the relevance of existential reasons for two specific belief categories: beliefs about legal obligation and beliefs about God.