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Information about Philosophy Of Action

Action theory is an area in philosophy concerned with theories about the processes causing intentional (wilful) human bodily movements of more or less complex kind. This area of thought has attracted the strong interest of philosophers ever since Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (Third Book). Increasingly, considerations of action theory were taken up by scholars in the social sciences. With the advent of psychology and later neuroscience, many theories of action are now subject to empirical testing.

Basic action theory typically describes action as behaviour caused by an agent in a particular situation. The agent's desires and beliefs (for e.g. my wanting a glass of water and believing the clear liquid in the cup in front of me is water) lead to bodily behavior (for e.g. reaching over for the glass). In the simple theory (see Donald Davidson), the desire and belief jointly cause the action. Michael Bratman has raised problems for such a view and argued that we should take the concept of intention as basic and not analyzable into beliefs and desires.

In some theories a desire plus a belief about the means of satisfying that desire are always what is behind an action. Agents aim, in acting, to maximize the satisfaction of their desires. Such a theory of prospective rationality underlies much of economics and other social sciences within the more sophisticated framework of Rational Choice. However, many theories of action argue that rationality extends far beyond calculating the best means to achieve ones ends. For instance, a belief that I ought to do X, in some theories, can directly cause me to do X without my having to want to do X (i.e. have a desire to do X). Rationality, in such theories, also involves responding correctly to the reasons an agent perceives, not just acting on his wants.

While action theorists generally employ the language of causality in their theories of what the nature of action is, the issue of what causal determination comes to has been central to controversies about the nature of free will.

Conceptual discussions also revolve around a precise definition of action in philosophy. Scholars may disagree on which bodily movements fall under this category, e.g. whether thinking should be analysed as action, and how complex actions involving several steps to be taken and diverse intended consequences are to be summarised or decomposed.

Scholars of action theory

Quotes

What is left over if I subtract the fact that my arm goes up from the fact that I raise my arm?
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations §621

See also

References

Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).
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Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic).
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Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
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Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled 'Nichomachean'), or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on virtue and moral character which plays a prominent role in defining Aristotelian ethics.
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The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. They diverge from the arts and humanities in that the social sciences tend to emphasize the use of the scientific method in the study of humanity, including quantitative and qualitative
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Psychology (from Greek: Literally "talk about the soul" (from logos)) is both an academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior.
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Neuroscience is a field that is devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. Such studies may include the structure, function, evolutionary history, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and pathology of the nervous system.
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Donald Davidson is the name of several people, including:
  • Donald Davidson (poet) (1893–1968), American poet
  • Donald Davidson (philosopher) (1917–2003), American philosopher

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Michael Bratman (born 25 July 1945) is Durfee Professor in the School of Humanities & Sciences and Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. His interests include philosophy of action and moral philosophy.
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Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Greek for oikos (house) and nomos (custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold).
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The social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study human aspects of the world. They diverge from the arts and humanities in that the social sciences tend to emphasize the use of the scientific method in the study of humanity, including quantitative and qualitative
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Economic systems

Ideologies and Theories
Primitive communism
Capitalist economy
Corporate economy
Fascist economy
Laissez-faire
Mercantilism
Natural economy
Social market economy
Socialist economy
Communist economy


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Causality or causation denotes the relationship between one event (called cause) and another event (called effect) which is the consequence (result) of the first. [1]
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359, 1805–1809.
  • Hofstadter, Douglas. (2007) I Am A Strange Loop. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465030781
  • Kane, Robert (1998). The Significance of Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-512656-4
  • Lawhead, William F. (2005).
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    • Action, is a concept of interest in philosophy, it has developed into a sub-field called philosophy of action. Action is what an agent can do.

    For example, throwing a ball is an instance of action; it involves an intention, a goal, and a bodily movement guided by
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    G. E. M. Anscombe (18 March, 1919 – 5 January, 2001) (born Gertrude Elizabeth Margaret Anscombe, also known as Elizabeth Anscombe) was a British analytic philosopher.
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    Jonathan F. Bennett (born 1930, Westport, New Zealand) is a British philosopher of language and metaphysics, and a historian of early modern philosophy.

    Bennett was educated at Oxford University.
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    Michael Bratman (born 25 July 1945) is Durfee Professor in the School of Humanities & Sciences and Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University. His interests include philosophy of action and moral philosophy.
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    August Cieszkowski (1814-1894) was a Polish philosopher, economist, social and political activist, co-founder of the Polish League (Liga Polska), co-founder and president of the Poznań Society of Friends of Arts and Sciences (PTPN).
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    Donald Herbert Davidson (March 6, 1917 – August 30, 2003) was an American philosopher, who served as Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1981 to 2003, after having also held substantive teaching appointments at Stanford
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    Fred Dretske (1932–) is a philosopher noted for his contributions to epistemology and the philosophy of mind. He was awarded the Jean Nicod Prize in 1994. Dretske taught for a number of years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before moving to Stanford University.
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    Rosalind Hursthouse is a moral philosopher noted for her work on virtue ethics. Hursthouse is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Formerly, she has taught at the Open University in the United Kingdom, at the University of California at Los Angeles in
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    David Hume (April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776)[1] was a Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian. He is considered one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment.
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    Jennifer Hornsby (born 1951) is a British philosopher with interests in the philosophies of mind, action, language, as well as feminist philosophy. She is currently a professor at the School of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London.
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    Robert Kane (born 1938) is an American philosopher. He is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently on phased retirement.
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    Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA (born Liverpool, 16 March 1931) is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion.
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    Hans Joas (b. 1948) is a German sociologist and social theorist. Joas is the Director of the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt and Professor of Sociology and a Member of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
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    Alfred Remen Mele (b. May 221951) is an American philosopher. He has been the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University since 2001. He specializes in irrationality, akrasia, intentionality and philosophy of action.
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    John Rogers Searle (born July 31 1932 in Denver, Colorado) is the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind, and also for his account of social reality.
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    Charles Margrave Taylor, CC, GOQ, BA, MA, DPhil, FRSC (born November 5, 1931) is a Canadian philosopher who has made significant contributions to political philosophy, philosophy of social science, and the history of philosophy.
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