I think you’ve nailed it there Rob. The worry is that all these problems might arise again once you have decided which uncertainty to focus on. And of course, there is always something inauthentic in focusing on one action-relevant question; on reflection you know that you could have produced equally convincing reasons to focus on many others.

Thanks for raising the question in this context. I often think about whether anything philosophy says is true or useful for action (the answer seems to be no usually) but I hadn’t thought about the same question with regards to other topics. Maybe a problem that will arise is that all questions of action bottom out in philosophy, for example, we might be able to work out the objective risk of catching covid from entering a restaurant, but is it safe? Should we do it? The last two questions are the ones that ultimately drive action, and they both seem open to or reliant on philosophical analysis. If this is the case of all action relevant questions then the problems of philosophy spread to every possible action. This is what I believe atm, but maybe I will become less pessimistic (or more gullible) with time.