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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Natural Agency: An Essay on the Causal Theory of Action

Natural Agency: An Essay on the Causal Theory of Action

Bishop, John
Sosa, Ernest
Dancy, Jonathan

Hardcover

Series: Cambridge Studies in Philosophy

Philosophy

ISBN10: 0521374308
ISBN13: 9780521374309
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: Jan 26 1990
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.95
Height: 0.63 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
From a moral point of view we think of ourselves as capable of responsible actions. From a scientific point of view we think of ourselves as animals whose behavior, however highly evolved, conforms to natural scientific laws. Natural Agency argues that these different perspectives can be reconciled, despite the skepticism of many philosophers who have argued that free will is impossible under scientific determinism. This skepticism is best overcome according to the author, by defending a causal theory of action, that is by establishing that actions are constituted by behavioral events with the appropriate kind of mental causal history. He sets out a rich and subtle argument for such a theory and defends it against its critics. Thus the book demonstrates the importance of philosophical work in action theory for the central metaphysical task of understanding our place in nature.

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