Intentions and Motives in Morality and Law

Abstract At law, certain classes of intentional actions are prohibited, regardless of the motive. Stealing bread is prohibited, even when motivated by hunger. In morality, we should evaluate both the intentions of actions and the motives of agents. We act with an intention but from a motive. Moral reasoning is legalistic to the extent that it focuses on the permissibility of classes of intentional actions, ignoring underlying motives of agents in tokens of action. Sometimes we do the wrong thing for the right reason or the right thing for the wrong reason, making the moral evaluation of agents and their actions irreducibly complex. Absolute or exceptionless norms are important for protecting our most precious values, but we must invent these absolutes in law rather than attempt to discover them in morality.