Rational animals : the teleological roots of intentionality / Mark Okrent.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Okrent, Mark, 1947-

Series:

Series in Continental thought ; 34.

Series in Continental thought ; 34

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intentionality (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (240 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Athens : Ohio University Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Rational Animals: The Teleological Roots of Intentionality offers an original account of the intentionality of human mental states, such as beliefs and desires. The account of intentionality in Rational Animals is broadly biological in its basis, emphasizing the continuity between human intentionality and the levels of intentionality that should be attributed to animal actions and states. Establishing the goal-directed character of animal behavior, Mark Okrent argues that instrumentally rational action is a species of goal-directed behavior that is idiosyncratic to individual agents and is distinguished by its novelty and flexibility. He also argues that some nonlinguistic animals are capable of instrumental rationality and that in the first instance, the contents of beliefs and desires are individuated by the explanatory role of those states in rationally accounting for such instrumentally rational behavior. The account of instrumental rationality offered in Rational Animals allows for understanding the practical rationality of linguistically competent human beings as a distinctive capacity of social animals capable of undertaking roles governed by socially sanctioned norms. Rational Animals will be of interest to cognitive scientists, philosophers of mind, philosophers of biology, philosophers of action, ethologists, and those interested in the debates concerning animal intelligence.

Contents:

Intro

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1. What Is Intentionality?

Chapter 2. Goals without Intentions

Chapter 3. The Descriptive Content of Goal Attributions

Chapter 4. The Explanatory Power of Goal Attributions

Chapter 5. Instrumental Rationality

Chapter 6. Rational Explanation

Chapter 7. Practical Reason and Definite Content

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-218) and index.

ISBN:

0-8214-4236-8

OCLC:

648346506