Philosophical Issue 2: What Makes an Action Intentional?

  • Garry Young

Abstract

Consider the following scenario. I am in a crowded café awaiting my food-order. Walking past me on his way to a table is a man carrying a tray with several drinks on it. Just as he is about to sit down, my order is called. As I stand and move towards the counter (to collect my food), I knock the tray out of the man’s hands with my hand. Did I do this intentionally? What is required for an action to be intentional?

Keywords

Prospective Memory Thought Experiment Bodily Awareness Simple View Habitual Action 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Further reading

  1. Davidson, D. (1980). Actions, reasons and causes. In Essays on actions and events. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 3–20.Google Scholar
  2. Jeannerod, M. (2006). Motor cognition: what actions tell the self. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Johnson-Frey, S.H. (2003). Taking action: cognitive neuroscience perspectives on intentional acts. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT PressGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Garry Young 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Garry Young
    • 1
  1. 1.Nottingham Trent UniversityUK

Personalised recommendations