Causal Theory of Action
Edited by Andrei Buckareff (Marist College)
About this topic
Summary | The Causal Theory of Action (CTA) is often referred to as "the standard story" of human action and agency in the philosophy of action. Strictly speaking, it is misleading to think of the CTA as a single theory of action. A better way to think about the CTA is in terms of a set of theories that bear a family resemblance by accepting the following schema about what makes some behavior count as an action and what explains an action: Any behavior A (whether overt or mental) of an agent S is an action if and only if S's A-ing is caused in the right way and causally explained by some appropriate nonactional mental item(s) that mediate or constitute S's reasons for A-ing. |
Key works | Perhaps the touchstone essay for contemporary formulations of the CTA is Davidson 1963. For a review of the historical development of the CTA, including a discussion of the refinements of the CTA that have been offered, along with a survey of some problems faced by the theory and proposed solutions, see the introductory essay in Aguilar & Buckareff 2010. For seminal recent refinements of the CTA, see Bishop 1989, Enç 2003, Mele 1992, Mele 2000, Mele 2003, Stout 1996, and the essays in Aguilar & Buckareff 2010. |
Introductions | For an accessible introduction to options in the theory of action, including variants of CTA, see the introduction to Aguilar & Buckareff 2010 and Brand 1979. |
Show all references
Related categories
Siblings:
- Defining Action (77)
- Agent Causation (277)
- The Structure of Action (268)
- Volitional Theories of Action (47)
- Noncausal Theories of Action (51)
- The Nature of Action, Misc (146)
- Identification Theories (97)
- Noncausal Theories of Action (51)
- Agent Causation (277)
- Volitional Theories of Action (47)
- Reasons and Causes (679)
- Agency (1,009 | 444)
- Explanation of Action (458 | 244)
- Intentions (1,800 | 362)
- Intentional Action (809)
Jobs in this area
Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Visiting faculty position in Philosophy Carnegie Mellon University: Qatar: Q-General Education
Assistant, Associate or Full Professor
Jobs from PhilJobs
723 found
Order:
1 filter applied
|
Off-campus access
Using PhilPapers from home?
Create an account to enable off-campus access through your institution's proxy server. Monitor this page
Be alerted of all new items appearing on this page. Choose how you want to monitor it:
Editorial team
General Editors:
David Bourget (Western Ontario) David Chalmers (ANU, NYU) Area Editors: David Bourget Gwen Bradford Berit Brogaard Margaret Cameron David Chalmers James Chase Rafael De Clercq Ezio Di Nucci Barry Hallen Hans Halvorson Jonathan Ichikawa Michelle Kosch Øystein Linnebo JeeLoo Liu Paul Livingston Brandon Look Manolo Martínez Matthew McGrath Michiru Nagatsu Susana Nuccetelli Giuseppe Primiero Jack Alan Reynolds Darrell P. Rowbottom Aleksandra Samonek Constantine Sandis Howard Sankey Jonathan Schaffer Thomas Senor Robin Smith Daniel Star Jussi Suikkanen Lynne Tirrell Aness Kim Webster Other editors Contact us Learn more about PhilPapers |