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The actor and the spectator : foundations of the theory of human action / Lewis White Beck.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Beck, Lewis White.
- Series:
- Key texts (Bristol, England)
- Key texts, classic studies in the history of ideas
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Human beings.
- Act (Philosophy).
- Physical Description:
- x, 142 pages ; 22 cm.
- Place of Publication:
- Bristol, England : Thoemmes Press, 1998.
- Summary:
- Can a machine think? More pointedly, if I am a machine, can I think? Beck answers these questions by analyzing two clusters of metaphors -- one of which dramatizes human beings as spontaneous agents (actors), and the other sees them as observers attempting to explain causally their own behavior and that of the actor (spectators). Using a hypothetical scene with two spectators, each explaining an action, and each representing a different way of viewing the world, Beck points up the central philosophical problems raised by the varieties of ways in which we explain our own actions and those of others.
- Notes:
- Originally published: New Haven : Yale University Press, 1974.
- Includes bibliographical references (page 139) and index.
- Local Notes:
- Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Hazel M. Hussong Fund.
- ISBN:
- 1855065576
- 9781855065574
- OCLC:
- 39109509
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