Sidgwick on Moral Motivation

So opens Methods I.III. Sidgwick holds that moral judgments are claims about what it is reasonable to do. In Methods I.I he writes of "rational procedure," "rational precepts," the "end of reasonable human action," and "reasonable conduct." When we fail to do what we see to be right, we are acting on "irrational springs of action" or "non-rational inclinations" (ME 1-6). He also holds that these judgments about what it is reasonable to do can motivate. He must, then, respond to Hume's argument that reason cannot motivate. Most of Methods I.III is this response.0