The concept of a human action

Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 13 (1-4):1 – 31 (1970)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This analysis of the concept of a human action takes its point of departure in the fact that actions are things done by persons. But people do many things which do not qualify as actions. A necessary condition for calling something done an action, is that the agent intends or means something by it, in the sense that the agent has some specific end in mind. Thus an action may be said to be the externalization, realization, or expression of the agent's meaning. But what precisely are such meanings or intentions that are given expression in actions? How are they to be distinguished from other mental contents ? The author tries to answer these questions by distinguishing them, on the one hand, from experiences, sensations, feelings, and, on the other hand, from other thoughts and meanings that do not find expression in the action. It is claimed that this account of action explains many characteristics of actions: that actions are appraised, not described (because meanings are evaluated), that an action is regarded as a unity (because the meaning is a unity), that the intention and the performance are not causally related, but related as are the content and expression of linguistic utterances, etc.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Two kinds of purposive action.Stephen Butterfill - 2001 - European Journal of Philosophy 9 (2):141–165.
Does Philosophy of Action Rest on a Mistake?Andrew Sneddon - 2001 - Metaphilosophy 32 (5):502-522.
Is 'human action' A category?Arthur B. Cody - 1971 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 14 (1-4):386-419.
Agent Causation and Acting for Reasons.Rebekah L. H. Rice - 2011 - American Philosophical Quarterly 48 (4):333-346.
Reasons for Action.Pamela Hieronymi - 2011 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 111 (3pt3):407-427.
Desire.Philip Pettit - 1998 - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The intentionality of intention and action.John R. Searle - 1979 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 22 (1-4):253 – 280.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-03-05

Downloads
50 (#281,183)

6 months
1 (#1,028,709)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Giving the sceptic a good name.Alastair Hannay - 1975 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 18 (4):409 – 436.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references