One of the most basic and important distinctions we draw is between those entities with the capacity of agency and those without. As humans we enjoy agency in its full-blooded form and therefore a proper understanding of the nature of agency is of great importance to appreciate who we are and what we should expect and demand of our existence.
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Agency is an outstanding reference source to the key issues, problems, and debates in this exciting subject and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising 42 chapters by an international team of contributors, the Handbook is divided into eight clear parts:
- The Metaphysics of Agency
- Kinds of Agency
- Agency and Ability
- Agency: Mind, Body, and World
- Agency and Knowledge
- Agency and Moral Psychology
- Agency and Time
- Agency, Reasoning, and Normativity.
A broad range of topics are covered, including the relation of agency to causation, teleology, animal agency, intentionality, planning, skills, disability, practical knowledge, self-knowledge, the will, responsibility, autonomy, identification, emotions, personal identity, reasons, morality, the law, aesthetics, and games.
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Agency is essential reading for students and researchers within philosophy of action, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, philosophy of psychology, and ethics.
An introduction to the philosophy of agency Luca Ferrero
Part 1: The metaphysics of agency
Introduction to Part 1 Luca Ferrero
1. Agency and causation Jesús H. Aguilar and Andrei A. Buckareff
2. Agency, function, and teleology Scott Sehon
3. Agency, events, and processes Matthias Haase
4. Negative agency Randolph Clarke
5. Bounded agency Elijah Millgram
6. Agency and games C. Thi Nguyen
Part 2: Kinds of agency
Introduction to Part 2 Luca Ferrero
7. Minimal agency Hans van Hateren
8. Animal agency Helen Steward
9. Intentional agency Lilian O'Brien
10. Rational agency Eric Marcus
Part 3: Agency and ability
Introduction to Part 3 Luca Ferrero
11. Agency, powers, and skills Will Small
12. Expert agency Barbara Gail Montero
13. Agency and mistakes Santiago Amaya
14. Agency and disability Kevin Timpe
15. Pathologies of agency Lubomira Radoilska
Part 4: Agency: mind, body, and world
Introduction to Part 4 Luca Ferrero
16. Mental agency Matthew Soteriou
17. Agency and the body Hong Yu Wong
18. Agency, consciousness, and attention Wayne Wu
19. Material agency Matthew Noah Smith
Part 5: Agency and knowledge
Introduction to Part 5 Luca Ferrero
20. Epistemic agency David Hunter
21. Agency and practical knowledge Kim Frost
22. Agency and evidence Berislav Marušić and John Schwenkler
23. Agency and self-knowledge Brie Gertler
Part 6: Agency and moral psychology
Introduction to Part 6 Luca Ferrero
24. Agency, will, and freedom Thomas Pink
25. Agency and responsibility Pamela Hieronymi
26. Agency and identification Agnieszka Jaworska
27. Agency and autonomy Andrea C. Westlund
28. Agency and (the limits of) volitional conflict Sarah Buss
29. Agency and the emotions Carla Bagnoli
Part 7: Agency and time
Introduction to Part 7 Luca Ferrero
30. Diachronic agency Luca Ferrero
31. Planning agency Michael E. Bratman
32. Agency, time, and rationality Chrisoula Andreou
33. Artificial and machine agency Richmond H. Thomason and John Horty
34. Agency and personal identity Marya Schechtman
35. Agency, narrative, and mortality Roman Altshuler
Part 8: Agency, reasoning, and normativity
Introduction to Part 8 Luca Ferrero
36. Agency, reasons and rationality Maria Alvarez
37. Agency and practical reasoning Jules Salomone-Sehr and Jennifer M. Morton
38. Agency and normativity Kenneth Walden
39. The aim of agency Kathryn Lindeman
40. Agency and morality Christine M. Korsgaard
41. Agency in the law Gideon Yaffe
42. Aestheics agency Keren Gorodeisky
Index
Biography
Luca Ferrero is Professor of Philosophy at UC-Riverside, USA. He works on the nature of diachronic agency and rationality, intentions, constitutivism, and personal identity. He is the editor of the Philosophy of Action section of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
