Abstract

Presents Schopenhauer's claims about the relation between willing and action. Willing is for him fundamentally a moving of the body, not a mental volition that causes bodily movement. His theory here is clearly opposed to dualism. Human action is distinguished from other bodily events by its having motives as its causes. The chapter suggests that this discussion of will and action had some influence on Wittgenstein and thereby perhaps on more recent action theory.