A Companion to the Philosophy of Action offers a comprehensive overview of the issues and problems central to the philosophy of action.
- The first volume to survey the entire field of philosophy of action (the central issues and processes relating to human actions)
- Brings together specially commissioned chapters from international experts
- Discusses a range of ideas and doctrines, including rationality, free will and determinism, virtuous action, criminal responsibility, Attribution Theory, and rational agency in evolutionary perspective
- Individual chapters also cover prominent historic figures from Plato to Ricoeur
- Can be approached as a complete narrative, but also serves as a work of reference
- Offers rich insights into an area of philosophical thought that has attracted thinkers since the time of the ancient Greeks
Recenzijas
"I recommend this volume to all those with any interest in the concepts treated in the philosophy of action." ( Philosophy in Review , 1 December 2012) "The collection is a critically important resource for scholars of the philosophy of action. The overall clarity of the entries, moreover, also makes it accessible as a resource for undergraduate and graduate students working in the area. Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers." (Choice, 1 March 2011) "O'Connor and Sandis have edited a wide-ranging, accessible collection that will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the philosophy of action. Highly recommended." (Metapsychology Online Reviews, 12 April 2011)
List of Illustrations. Notes on Contributors. Acknowledgments.
Introduction. Part I Acts and Actions. 1 Action Theory and Ontology ( E. J.
Lowe ). 2 Basic Actions and Individuation ( Constantine Sandis ). 3 Trying to
Act ( Jennifer Hornsby ). 4 Bodily Movements ( Adrian Haddock ). 5 The Causal
Theory of Action ( Wayne A. Davis ). 6 Adverbs of Action and Logical Form (
Kirk Ludwig ). 7 Refraining, Omitting, and Negative Acts ( Kent Bach ). 8
Speech Acts ( Mitchell S. Green ). 9 Collective Action ( Margaret Gilbert ).
10 Habitual Actions ( Bill Pollard ). 11 Cambridge Actions ( David-Hillel
Ruben ). 12 Pluralism about Action ( Elijah Millgram ). Part II Agency and
Causation. 13 Volition and the Will ( Laura W. Ekstrom ). 14 Intention (
Alfred R. Mele ). 15 Desire and Pleasure ( Timothy Schroeder ). 16
Teleological Explanation ( Scott Sehon ). 17 Reasons and Causes ( Timothy
O'Connor ). 18 Triggering and Structuring Causes ( Fred Dretske ). 19
Motivating Reasons ( Stephen Everson ). 20 Humeanism about Motivation (
Michael Smith ). 21 Deviant Causal Chains ( Rowland Stout ). 22 Action
Explanation and the Unconscious ( Edward Harcourt ). 23 Mental Causation and
Epiphenomenalism ( John Heil ). 24 The Explanatory Role of Consciousness (
Naomi Eilan ). 25 What a Difference Emotions Make ( Sabine A. Doring ). 26
Agency, Patiency, and Personhood ( Soran Reader ). 27 Mental Acts ( Joelle
Proust ). 28 Agent Causation ( Randolph Clarke ). 29 Bodily Awareness and
Bodily Action ( Hong Yu Wong ). 30 Agents' Knowledge ( Johannes Roessler ).
31 Practical Reasoning ( Bart Streumer ). 32 Deliberation and Decision (
Philip Pettit ). 33 Motivational Strength ( Alfred R. Mele ). 34 Addiction
and Compulsion ( Neil Levy ). 35 Akrasia and Irrationality ( Sergio Tenenbaum
). Part III Action in Special Contexts. 36 Rationality ( John Broome ). 37
Motivational Internalism and Externalism ( G. F. Schueler ). 38 Free Will and
Determinism ( Thomas Pink ). 39 Responsibility and Autonomy ( John Martin
Fischer ). 40 Virtuous Action ( Rosalind Hursthouse ). 41 The Doctrine of
Double Effect ( David S. Oderberg ). 42 Action and Criminal Responsibility (
R. A. Duff ). 43 Intention in Law ( Gideon Yaffe ). 44 Scientifi c Challenges
to Free Will ( Eddy Nahmias ). 45 Intentional Action in Folk Psychology (
Bertram F. Malle ). 46 Attribution Theory ( Bernard Weiner ). 47 Rational
Agency in Evolutionary Perspective ( Kim Sterelny and Ben Jeffares ). 48
Animal Agency ( Hans-Johann Glock ). 49 Action in Cognitive Ethology ( Marc
Bekoff ). 50 Action in History and Social Science ( Daniel Little ). 51 The
Prediction of Action ( Nassim N. Taleb and Avital Pilpel ). Part IV
Prominent Figures. 52 Indian Philosophers ( Elisa Freschi ). 53 Plato (
Christine J. Thomas ). 54 Aristotle ( Ursula Coope ). 55 Stoics, Epicureans,
and Aristotelians ( T. H. Irwin ). 56 Augustine and Aquinas ( Stephen Boulter
). 57 Duns Scotus ( Thomas Williams ). 58 Thomas Hobbes ( Thomas Pink ). 59
Descartes ( Paul Hoffman ). 60 Locke ( Matthew Stuart ). 61 Berkeley ( Tom
Stoneham ). 62 Thomas Reid ( Maria Alvarez ). 63 Hume ( Annette C. Baier ).
64 Kant ( Eric Watkins ). 65 Nietzsche ( Brian Leiter ). 66 Hegel ( Michael
Quante ). 67 Weber ( Kieran Allen ). 68 Wittgenstein ( Severin Schroeder ).
69 Ryle ( Julia Tanney ). 70 Sartre ( Katherine J. Morris ). 71 Chisholm (
Michael J. Zimmerman ). 72 Von Wright ( Frederick Stoutland ). 73 Davidson (
Ralf Stoecker ). 74 Anscombe ( Roger Teichmann ). 75 Ricoeur ( Anna C.
Zielinska ). Index.
Timothy O'Connor is Professor and Department Chair of philosophy at Indiana University Bloomington, and a member of its Cognitive Sciences program. He has published extensively in metaphysics, philosophy of mind and action, and philosophy of religion. His books include Agents, Causes, and Events: Essays on Indeterminism and Free Will (ed. 1995), Persons and Causes: The Metaphysics of Free Will (2000), Philosophy of Mind: Contemporary Readings (ed. 2003), Theism and Ultimate Explanation: The Necessary Shape of Contingency (2008) and Downward Causation and the Necessity of Free Will (ed. 2010). Constantine Sandis is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Oxford Brookes University and New York University in London. He is the editor of New Essays on the Explanation of Action (2009) and Hegel on Action (with Arto Laitinen, 2010), and author of The Things We Do and Why We Do Them (2010).
