Abstract
Moral motivation and the way it functions have raised many theories, still debated today. There are two main theories under discussion; internalism and externalism about ethical motivation, both of them being central in the explanation of the mechanism that lies between moral judgements of an agent and his or her motivation to act upon and according to these judgements. These two theories define the nature of the link between judgement and motivation differently. According to the internalists, the connection between moral judgement and motivation for the "good and strong-willed person" is internal, it "follows directly from the content of moral judgement itself", whereas for the externalists, the link is external and "follows from the content of the motivational dispositions possessed [by the person]" (Michael Smith The Moral Problem (1994) III, 3.5). The core opposition between these theories has led to severe criticism between the supporters of both streams. What distinctions can be made between internalism and externalism about moral motivation? Michael Smith in The Moral Problem presents the internalist view of moral motivation as the only plausible theory and challenges the externalist theory. Does his argument against externalism work?
