Reply to Sylvan: constructivism? – Not Kant, not I

Kurt Sylvan’s generous discussion of my book, The Domain of Reasons, argues that its account of reason relations would be strengthened if I accepted some version of ‘Kantian constructivism;’ and that that would, moreover, bring me closer to Kant. I argue against both these claims. I do not agree that ‘Kantian constructivism,’ understood in its contemporary sense, would strengthen my account of normativity. Nor do I agree that adopting it would make me more Kantian. On the contrary, I believe my cognitivist but irrealist account is closer to Kant than is anything that could be called ‘constructivism’ about reason.