Motive is the reason or purpose that an agent attributes to themselves or imputes to others as the explanation for an action. Parameters: (1) it identifies a goal, desire, belief-state, or value that purportedly drives the action; (2) it is distinct from causal factors (physiological, environmental, genetic) and from legal culpability — a motive may be present without guilt, and culpable without a discoverable motive; (3) it is constructed and deployed in narrative, legal, psychological, and everyday explanatory practices, and need not be conscious or accurate. A motive is the explanatory map, not the territory of the agent's internal state. [formal: motivus | substrate: mind | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
motive
Motive is the reason or purpose that an agent attributes to themselves or imputes to others as the explanation for an action. Parameters: (1) it identifies a goal, desire, belief-state, or value that purportedly drives the action; (2) it i…
Definition
Why it is in scope
The reason attributed to a person's action or statement — the constructed 'why' that agents, observers, legal systems, and psychological theories use to explain, justify, diagnose, or predict behavior. Distinguishable from causal factors (physiological, environmental) and from legal culpability.
Names and aliases
- motiveen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrntsu1i036zd1nlwef863p4SERVES →
Motive is constructed and deployed for the sake of attribution — assigning reasons to actions. In legal reasoning, psychological theory, and everyday explanation, the concept of motive exists to explain WHY someone did something. The servant→master direction is correct: motive points at attribution as its purpose.
- cmrzbgkim002el1qkdi2oo3ouINSTANCE_OF →
A motive is a specific kind of motivation — it is the particular reason or purpose driving a specific action, whereas motivation is the broader capacity/principle of being driven to act. INSTANCE_OF: specific→general. A motive IS a form of motivation.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 24, 2026, 12:26 PM UTC
- Content hash
- a12ff88f35d1dd4416a12ad38ccb5099e5025dd37d800719e1b22d955d831985