Douglas W. Portmore is an American moral philosopher at Arizona State University, known for his work on consequentialism, moral obligations, and the relationship between rationality and morality. He has made significant contributions to debates about commonsense consequentialism and the nature of moral reasons.
Developed Commonsense Consequentialism, reconciling consequentialism with agent-relative moral intuitions
Advanced influential arguments on the relationship between moral obligations and rational requirements
Published 'Commonsense Consequentialism: Wherein Morality Meets Rationality' (Oxford, 2011)
Contributed to debates on supererogation, moral demandingness, and deontic logic
Extensive work on teleological conceptions of practical reasons and moral theory
Doug is not obligated at 2 pm to eat a healthy meal at 6 pm
premiseAn agent is only obligated to perform an action if there exists a combination of intentions and permissible attitudes the agent can have such that having them would result in performing the action
premiseThe only way Doug can ensure at 2 pm that he will eat a healthy meal at 6 pm is by having the irrational belief that his life depends upon eating a healthy meal at 6 pm
Doug is not obligated at 2 pm to eat a healthy meal at 6 pm
premiseAn agent is only obligated to perform an action if there exists a combination of intentions and permissible attitudes the agent can have such that having them would result in performing the action
premiseDoug is not obligated to have such an irrational belief
The only way Doug can ensure at 2 pm that he will eat a healthy meal at 6 pm is by having the irrational belief that his life depends upon eating a healthy meal at 6 pm
premiseThere is no combination of intentions and permissible attitudes Doug can have at 2 pm that would result in him eating a healthy meal at 6 pm