Action in context / edited by Anton Leist.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Leist, Anton, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Act (Philosophy).

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (404 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Walter de Gruyter, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Das Buch beleuchtet den Begriff der Handlung in drei unterschiedlichen Kontexten: im Kontext der Rechtfertigung von Handlungen, der Lebensgeschichte von Personen und des Pragmatismus. Eine solche umfassende Betrachtung, die eine Abkehr von der atomistischen Herangehensweise der Handlungstheorie und die Besonderheit dieses Bandes darstellt, wirft eine Reihe von Fragen auf: Wenn Handlungen nicht durch mentale Zustände gerechtfertigt werden, wie können Personen dann aus Gründen handeln? Wie sind zeitlich ausgedehnte Aktivitäten von Personen zu beschreiben, und welcher Zusammenhang besteht zur Frage nach personaler Identität? Muss für ein einheitliches Verständnis von Personen das Praktische Vorrang vor dem Theoretischen haben, und was heißt dies z. B. für die Erkenntnistheorie? Mit diesen und anderen Fragen setzen sich die zehn Beitragenden in den drei Sektionen des Buches auf instruktive Weise auseinander.

The book illustrates the concept of action in three different contexts - the justification of actions, people's life history, and pragmatism. The special feature of this book is that a comprehensive view of this kind marks a departure from the atomistic approach of action theory, which in itself raises a number of questions. If actions are not justified by mental states, how can persons then act for reasons? How can persons' actions over time be described, and what is the connection with the question of personal identity? If there is to be a unified understanding of the person, does the practical have to take precedence over the theoretical, and what does this mean for epistemology, for example? The ten contributors to this volume engage in an instructive manner with these and similar questions in the three sections of the book.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Introduction: Through Contexts to Actions / Leist, Anton

Thought and Action / Hacker, P. M. S.

I. Acting for Reasons

Reasons for Action and Psychological States / Stoutland, Frederick

Reasons for Action without Metaphysics? / Schmidt, Thomas

The Causalist/Anti-causalist Debate in the Theory of Action: What It Is and Why It Matters / Alvarez, Maria

In Defence of Causalism / Huebl, Philipp

Two Ways to Understand Causality in Agency / Stout, Rowland

On the Importance of Reconciling Two Models of Causality in Agency / Bishop, John

Actions, Habits, and Practices / Lekan, Todd

The Reach of Habit / Anwander, Norbert

II. Action, Persons and Life

What Good is a Will? / Velleman, J. David

On the Ways and Uses of Intending: Lessons from Velleman's Bratman Critique / Roughley, Neil

Personal Identity and Agency: Towards Analytical Personalism / Cuypers, Stefaan E.

Looking for the Real Enemy / Slors, Marc

The Units of Living / Bittner, Rüdiger

Making Sense of Ourselves / Baumann, Holger

III. Action and Epistemology

Knowledge in Action / Hornsby, Jennifer

A Seeming Solution to a Seeming Puzzle in Explaining Action / Saporiti, Katia

Cognition and Action / Leist, Anton

Notes on Distinctions / Schulte, Joachim

Action and Inquiry / Hookway, Christopher

Knowledgeable Inquiry / Hetherington, Stephen

Name Index

Subject Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

9783110898798

3110898799

OCLC:

811407702