Actions, Reasons, and Intentions: Overcoming Davidson's Ontological Prejudice

Dialogue ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Michael McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Intentional Action ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Principal Source ◽  
Definition Of

ABSTRACTThis article defends the idea that causal relations between reasons and actions are wholly irrelevant to the explanatory efficacy of reason-explanations. The analysis of reason-explanations provided in this article shows that the so-called “problem of explanatory force” is solved, not by putative causal relations between the reasons for which agents act and their actions, but rather by the intentions that agents necessarily have when they act for a reason. Additionally, the article provides a critique of the principal source of support for the thesis that reason-explanations are causal explanations, namely, Davidson's argument in “Actions, Reasons, and Causes.” It is shown that Davidson's argument for this thesis rests crucially on two mistakes: his definition of intentional action and his ontological prejudice against intentions.

Desires, Dispositions and Deviant Causal Chains

Philosophy ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hyman
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Intentional Action ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Causal Chains

AbstractRecent work on dispositions offers a new solution to the long-running dispute about whether explanations of intentional action are causal explanations. The dispute seemed intractable because of a lack of percipience about dispositions and a commitment to Humean orthodoxies about causation on both sides.

The Intentionality of Actions

2019 ◽  
pp. 90-121
Author(s):  
Ingmar Persson
Keyword(s):  
Intentional Action ◽  
Basic Action ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Mental Acts

According to the definition proposed by this chapter you intentionally perform the basic bodily action of causing p now if you now have an occurrent decisive desire to cause p directly—that is, without causing anything as a means to it—and this desire now causes something because you correctly and justifiably think that it is p. Since it has been claimed that conscious occurrences are not causally related, this account has to be modified to suit mental acts such as visualizing something. In this connection some rival theories of intentional action which refer to acts of will or volitions are critically examined. Finally, building on the definition of an intentional basic action, the notion of an intentional non-basic action is defined.

scholarly journals Developmental dyslexia: a condensed review of literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-270
Author(s):  
Anna Belavina Kuerten ◽  
Mailce Borges Mota ◽  
Katrien Segaert
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Dyslexia ◽  
Operational Definition ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Reading Disorder ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Developmental Progression ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Double Deficit ◽  
Deficit Theory

In this article we provide a condensed review of literature on developmental dyslexia. Starting with the historical background to this language-based reading disorder, we discuss four key components that are crucial for a valid and operational definition of developmental dyslexia. We then present the major theoretical explanations of developmental dyslexia in order to gain a better understanding of the causes of this reading disorder. These causal explanations are addressed in the context of Morton and Frith’s (1995) model. Four major theories of developmental dyslexia are discussed: the phonological deficit theory, the double-deficit theory, the magnocellular theory, and the cerebellar theory. The last section of this review addresses the model of reading development proposed by Frith (1986). Understanding the developmental progression of children’s abilities in reading is crucial in order to detect in which phase of this progression a breakdown attributed to dyslexia occurs.

Actual Causality

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Y. Halpern
Keyword(s):  
Program Verification ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Structural Equations ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Actual Causation ◽  
Legal Case ◽  
The World ◽  
Legal Arguments ◽  
Definition Of

Causality plays a central role in the way people structure the world; we constantly seek causal explanations for our observations. But what does it even mean that an event C “actually caused” event E? The problem of defining actual causation goes beyond mere philosophical speculation. For example, in many legal arguments, it is precisely what needs to be established in order to determine responsibility. The philosophy literature has been struggling with the problem of defining causality since Hume. In this book, Joseph Halpern explores actual causality, and such related notions as degree of responsibility, degree of blame, and causal explanation. The goal is to arrive at a definition of causality that matches our natural language usage and is helpful, for example, to a jury deciding a legal case, a programmer looking for the line of code that cause some software to fail, or an economist trying to determine whether austerity caused a subsequent depression. Halpern applies and expands an approach to causality that he and Judea Pearl developed, based on structural equations. He carefully formulates a definition of causality, and building on this, defines degree of responsibility, degree of blame, and causal explanation. He concludes by discussing how these ideas can be applied to such practical problems as accountability and program verification.

Causation and Statistical Inference

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clark Glymour
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Dimension Reduction ◽  
Statistical Inference ◽  
Statistical Models ◽  
Causal Interpretation ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Causal Influence

In the applied statistical literature, causal relations are often described equivocally or euphemistically as ‘risk factors’, or as part of ‘dimension reduction’. The statistical literature also tends to speak of ‘statistical models’ rather than of causal explanations, and to say that parameters of a model are ‘interpretable’, often means that the parameters make sense as measures of causal influence. These ellipses are due in part to the use of statistical formalisms for which a causal interpretation is wanted but unavailable or unfamiliar, and in part to a philosophical distrust of attributions of causation outside experimental contexts, misgivings traceable to the disciplinary institutionalization of claims of influential statisticians, notably Karl Pearson and Ronald Fisher. More candid treatments of causal relations have recently emerged in the theoretical statistical literature.

Architecture as a Tool to Solve Business Planning Problems

2019 ◽  
pp. 157-172
Author(s):  
James McKee
Keyword(s):  
Reference Model ◽  
Business Planning ◽  
Complex Organizations ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Business Architecture ◽  
Systematic Examination ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Planning Problems

Businesses are now very large and complex organizations and their analysis provides a great deal of information that in order to be understood must be well organized and presented. Architecture is a scheme that allows a systematic examination of the entire enterprise and can provide a well-organized presentation of the key components, their interdependencies, and the important causal relations. This chapter discusses the problems associated with developing an architecture and suggests a framework for developing a reference model to guide the definition of business architecture.

Architecture as a Tool to Solve Business Planning Problems

2018 ◽  
pp. 573-586
Author(s):  
James McKee
Keyword(s):  
Reference Model ◽  
Business Planning ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Business Architecture ◽  
Systematic Examination ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Planning Problems

Businesses are now very large and complex organisations and their analysis provides a great deal of information that in order to be understood, must be well organised and presented. Architecture is a scheme that allows a systematic examination of the entire enterprise and can provide a well-organised presentation of the key components, their interdependencies and the important causal relations. This paper discusses the problems associated with developing an architecture and suggests a framework for developing a reference model to guide the definition of the business architecture.

scholarly journals Conceptual and Linguistic Factors in Children's Memory for Causal Expressions

1990 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-117
Author(s):  
James P. Byrnes ◽  
Susan A. Gelman
Keyword(s):  
Age Differences ◽  
Fifth Graders ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Recall Task ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Causal Explanations ◽  
Sentence Recall ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Children's Memory

The present study examined children's memory for causal expressions as a measure of their implicit knowledge. In experiment I, first-, third-, and fifth-graders were asked to recall descriptions of causal sequences including "if" and "because" statements. Protocols were scored for recall of causal ideas and use of the terms "if" and "because." Results showed significant age differences in recall of causal ideas, but mostly with regard to causal explanations and not concepts of covariance. Significant increases were also found in recall of the terms "if" and "because" to describe these sequences. In experiment II, the same subjects received a sentence recall task that assessed the degree to which they associated "if" with unexpected content and "when" with expected content. On this task, third and fifth-graders were significantly more likely to associate "if" with unexpected content and "when" with ordinary content. Implications for children's understanding of causal relations and for knowledge-based accounts of memory are discussed.

THE ISSUE OF INDEPENDENCE AND ETHNIC IDENTITY IN MONTENEGRO

2007 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
KUBO KEIICHI
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
Opposite Direction ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Do So

Abstract Summary: In Montenegro, there has been a deep divide between those who seek the independence of Montenegro and those who oppose it. It is well known that there is a correlation between the ethnic identity and the attitude towards this issue. While one tends to assume that the former determines the latter, this article would argue that this assumption does not hold for Serbs. To do so, this article analyzes the re-definition of ethnic identity in Montenegro. In particular, a significant number of those who now regard themselves as "Serb" did not indeed do so only twelve years ago. This suggests that the assumption discussed above is wrong and the causal relations run in the opposite direction: they re-defined themselves as "Serb" because they support the maintenance of the union with Serbia.

scholarly journals The Mechanism of the Production of Counter-finality in a Constitutive Order

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-103
Author(s):  
Il'yas Latypov
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Intentional Action ◽  
Unintended Consequence ◽  
New Order ◽  
Production Mechanism ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Empirical Illustration

The presented theory-oriented article describes the main elements of the counter-finality production mechanism in the constitutive order, and provides an empirical illustration. The counter-finality in Elster’s theory is an unintended consequence that generates collective action in order to overcome this contradiction and contribute to social change. However, this approach ignores the very process of producing counter-finality and does not correspond to the realities of everyday life. Focusing on everyday interactions allows to describe the counter-finality production process and to define this phenomenon in a different way. Firstly, the connection between counter-finality and the constitutive order is indicated: counter-finality occurs when the constitutive order is violated, but counter-finality creates conditions for the constitution of a new order. Then, a set of concepts is derived from the definition of counter-finality, its properties and examples, and from the description of the constitutive order conception: intentional action, lack of coordination, space, time, informational background, and sequence of actions. These concepts can be used to describe the process and conditions for counter-finality production in the constitutive order. In a specific empirical study, the case of a queue in a subway car, these concepts are elements of the production mechanism that influence each other and together create counter-finality.

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