New Essays on the Explanation of Action

Front Matter....Pages i-xiii
Introduction....Pages 1-9
Front Matter....Pages 11-11
What Must Actions Be for Reasons to Explain Them?....Pages 13-21
What Are Reasons for Action?....Pages 22-47
Was Sally’s Reason for Running from the Bear that She Thought it was Chasing Her?....Pages 48-61
Con-reasons as Causes....Pages 62-74
Agential Reasons and the Explanation of Human Behaviour....Pages 75-93
Reasons as Non-causal, Context-placing Explanations....Pages 94-111
Interpretative Explanations....Pages 112-131
Anscombe on Expression of Intention....Pages 132-168
Can One Act for a Reason without Acting Intentionally?....Pages 169-183
Reasons: Explanatory and Normative....Pages 184-202
Reasons, Desires and Intentional Actions....Pages 203-219
A Niggle at Nagel: Causally Active Desires and the Explanation of Action....Pages 220-240
Acting in Character....Pages 241-256
Aquinas on Action and Action Explanation....Pages 257-275
Acting for Reasons — A Grass Root Approach....Pages 276-292
Front Matter....Pages 293-293
Sub-intentional Actions and the Over-mentalization of Agency....Pages 295-312
Determinism, Intentional Action, and Bodily Movements....Pages 313-337
Free Agency, Causation and Action Explanation....Pages 338-355
Gods and Mental States: The Causation of Action in Ancient Tragedy and Modern Philosophy of Mind....Pages 356-383
Front Matter....Pages 293-293
Aristotle’s Conception of Practical Thinking....Pages 384-395
Action in Moral Metaphysics....Pages 396-415
Non-cognitivism and Motivation....Pages 416-424
Back Matter....Pages 425-429