The philosophy of the action is a branch of the philosophy which has as an aim the problems relating to the human action, with its nature, its motivations and with intentionality. It is undoubtedly one of the most important branches in the contemporary philosophical debate even if it is above all the Anglo-Saxon philosophers who nourish the discussions. Some of the most discussed questions concern inter alia:
- is the nature of the action (necessarily a body movement? does intentionality characterize the action?),
- the problem of the individuation of the acts (to move its queen and to put her adversary in failure and chechmate are only one and even action?),
- the problem of the explanation of the action: intentionality can it be enough to explain the human action or is also necessary to take account of causal phenomena?
The problem of the explanation of the human action
It is said that the philosophy of the action was born following a famous question from Wittgenstein: what remains owing to the fact that I raise the arm if the fact is withdrawn that my arm rises? The philosophy of the action requires: which is the nature of the human action? What an intentional action? What to explain an action? Of which nature is the relation between a reason to act and an action? Are the reasons to act the causes of the action?
One can divide the theorists of the action into two great groups: the causalists - who claim that the reasons to act are the causes of the action - and the non-causalists - who support the reverse. Until in the years 1960, the non-causalists were largely majority (Wittgenstein, Anscombe). The thesis causalist indeed seemed to encounter two apparently insurmountable arguments: the argument of the logical connection and the argument of the laws of cover , but to which Donald Davidson knew to bring a decisive answer.
The most important philosophers of the action are Wittgenstein, Anscombe, Miss, Donald Davidson, Harry Frankfurt, Churchland.
Report/ratio of the philosophy of the action with the other branches of philosophy
The ethical is the philosophical discipline whose bonds with the philosophy of the action are undeniable. Aristote in particular was interested in the phenomenon of the action in general in a concern of explaining the moral action.
The epistemology (like study of knowledge) and the Philosophie of the language also refer to a philosophy of the action because there is no knowledge without language and not of language apart from an action.
| Random links: | Definition of screen | Robert Baer | Borland conference | The Woman with the snakes | Săvădisla |