Instrumental and Intrinsic Desire

This chapter provides an overview of some central philosophical issues surrounding the distinction between instrumental and intrinsic desires and the relationships between them. I first clarify some crucial notions that feature in the initial characterizations of instrumental and intrinsic desires. I then tackle the question of whether an instrumental desire is a further attitude or mental state that exists independently of the intrinsic desire(s) and the means-end belief(s) that explain it. I outline two arguments in support of the negative answer to this question, consider an objection to them, and assess whether the objection succeeds. Finally, I turn to the question of how an agent’s motivation is transmitted from the end to the means and survey two competing accounts of this phenomenon.