The Debate on Mental Causation: Davidson and His Critics

Dialogue ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ausonio Marras
Keyword(s):  
Mental Causation ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Causal Efficacy ◽  
Present Collection ◽  
Contemporary Perspective ◽  
Mental Events

The flurry of debates on mental causation in recent years has largely been occasioned by Donald Davidson's original and controversial views on the role of mind in the causation and explanation of behaviour. In his classic 1963 paper, “Actions, Reasons, and Causes,” Davidson argued, against the prevailing opinion of the Ryleans and later-Wittgensteineans, that in order to be genuinely explanatory of human behaviour, reasons must be causes; and in his equally influential and far more controversial 1970 paper, “Mental Events,” he undertook to show how reasons can be causes—how it is possible for our beliefs, desire, intentions, and the like, in terms of which we “rationalize” our behaviour, to be at the same time causes of our behaviour. While the basic thesis of the 1963 paper was widely accepted, setting a trend for much of the work on action theory for the following three decades, the account of the causal efficacy of mind in “Mental Events” generated a great deal of controversy. The debates continue, involving scores of participants but seldom Davidson himself. What makes the present collection of previously unpublished papers particularly interesting is that it contains Davidson's own reply to some of his most notable critics, together with their rejoinders; so we now have a contemporary perspective on the mental causation debate that Davidson initiated, unwittingly, a quarter of a century ago.

Mental causation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Loewer
Keyword(s):  
Physical Properties ◽  
Mental Causation ◽  
Causal Relevance ◽  
Scientific Psychology ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Mental Properties ◽  
Mental Events ◽  
Physical Phenomena ◽  
Completeness Of Physics

Both folk and scientific psychology assume that mental events and properties participate in causal relations. However, considerations involving the causal completeness of physics and the apparent non-reducibility of mental phenomena to physical phenomena have challenged these assumptions. In the case of mental events (such as someone’s thinking about Vienna), one proposal has been simply to identify not ‘types’ (or classes) of mental events with types of physical events, but merely individual ‘token’ mental events with token physical ones, one by one (your and my thinking about Vienna may be ‘realized’ by different type physical states). The role of mental properties (such as ‘being about Vienna’) in causation is more problematic. Properties are widely thought to have three features that seem to render them causally irrelevant: (1) they are ‘multiply-realizable’ (they can be realized in an indefinite variety of substances); (2) many of them seem not to supervene on neurophysiological properties (differences in mental properties do not always depend merely on differences in neurophysiological ones, but upon relations people bear to things outside their skin); and (3) many of them (for example, ‘being painful’) seem inherently ‘subjective’ in a way that no objective physical properties seem to be. All of these issues are complicated by the fact that there is no consensus concerning the nature of causal relevance for properties in general.

Magistri Legis. Eine Studie zur dogmatischen Funktion im industriellen System

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-112
Author(s):  
Pierre Legendre
Keyword(s):  
Social Function ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Cultural Reproduction ◽  
Industrial System ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Law ◽  
New Look

"Der Beitrag reevaluiert die «dogmatische Funktion», eine soziale Funktion, die mit biologischer und kultureller Reproduktion und folglich der Reproduktion des industriellen Systems zusammenhängt. Indem sie sich auf der Grenze zwischen Anthropologie und Rechtsgeschichte des Westens situiert, nimmt die Studie die psychoanalytische Frage nach der Rolle des Rechts im Verhalten des modernen Menschen erneut in den Blick. </br></br>This article reappraises the dogmatic function, a social function related to biological and cultural reproduction and consequently to the reproduction of the industrial system itself. On the borderline of anthropology and of the history of law – applied to the West – this study takes a new look at the question raised by psychoanalysis concerning the role of law in modern human behaviour. "

scholarly journals A Study of Dramatic Action and Emotion Using a Systematic Scan of Stick Figure Configurations

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Raindel ◽  
Yuvalal Liron ◽  
Uri Alon
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Body Postures ◽  
Stick Figure ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Dramatic Action ◽  
Low Dimensional ◽  
Action Verbs

Comprehending the meaning of body postures is essential for social organisms such as humans. For example, it is important to understand at a glance whether two people seen at a distance are in a friendly or conflictual interaction. However, it is still unclear what fraction of the possible body configurations carry meaning, and what is the best way to characterize such meaning. Here, we address this by using stick figures as a low-dimensional, yet evocative, representation of body postures. We systematically scanned a set of 1,470 upper-body postures of stick figures in a dyad with a second stick figure with a neutral pose. We asked participants to rate the stick figure in terms of 20 emotion adjectives like sad or triumphant and in terms of eight active verbs that connote intent like to threaten and to comfort. The stick figure configuration space was dense with meaning: people strongly agreed on more than half of the configurations. The meaning was generally smooth in the sense that small changes in posture had a small effect on the meaning, but certain small changes had a large effect. Configurations carried meaning in both emotions and intent, but the intent verbs covered more configurations. The effectiveness of the intent verbs in describing body postures aligns with a theory, originating from the theater, called dramatic action theory. This suggests that, in addition to the well-studied role of emotional states in describing body language, much can be gained by using also dramatic action verbs which signal the effort to change the state of others. We provide a dictionary of stick figure configurations and their perceived meaning. This systematic scan of body configurations might be useful to teaching people and machines to decipher body postures in human interactions.

Towards a Rhetoric of Experience: the Role of Enargeia in the Essays of Montaigne.

2002 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Paul Sharpling
Keyword(s):  
Visual Representation ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Linguistic Expression ◽  
French Renaissance ◽  
Verbal Language ◽  
Insight Into

The aim of this paper is to explore the Montaigne's use of enargeia in three essays: ''Des Cannibales,'' ''Des Coches'' and ''De l'exercitation.'' During the French Renaissance, enargeia remained a central means by which writers transferred living experience into language. The elaborate visual possibilities offered by enargeia, encapsulated in the writings of Quintilian, were popularised in France through the diffusion of Erasmus's rhetorical handbook De diuplici copia verborum ac rerum. However, the sense of graphic presence and truth conveyed by Erasmus's handbook came to be challenged through the increasing awareness of the disparity between living experience and verbal language. In his Essais, Montaigne's awareness of the deceptive properties of visual representation allows him to explore, often playfully, the pleasures and instabilities of linguistic expression, and to gain a heightened insight into the perceptual inadequacy which characterize much human behaviour. In this way, Montaigne poignantly demonstrates the instructive nature of rhetorical theories on which he draws to illustrate his understanding of human experience.

The Role of Communication in Online Trust

2019 ◽  
pp. 341-361
Author(s):  
Latifa Chaari
Keyword(s):  
Action Theory ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Relational Trust ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Online Trust ◽  
Common Definition ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter aims at better understanding the behavior of the Internet user. It suggests studying the role of communication on the trust of Internet users towards commercial Websites. In order to realize this research, the authors mobilized the Communicative Action Theory of Jürgen Habermas (1987). Therefore, they have brought a new perspective in understanding online trust following action theory. For Habermas, communication is an action that depends on contextual, cultural, and human factors, which cannot be reduced to deterministic mechanisms. He deals with three types of action, which an actor might pursue following his interests, which can be instrumental, strategic, or emancipatory. The instrumental and strategic are purposive-rational actions, which aim at achieving success and at developing a calculated trust based on calculation of the advantages and the costs of the relation, whereas, the communicative action is coordinated by mutual understanding that allows the development of a relational trust based on social interactions. In communicative action, mutual understanding through language allows the social integration of actors and the coordination of their plans and their different interests. In this case, trust is based on a common definition of the situation and the resolution of conflicts of interests between actors. Internet is a medium of communication that can support the three kinds of action. The instrumental and strategic actions allow the development of calculated trust, whereas the communicative action allows the development of relational trust based on social interaction and mutual comprehension.

scholarly journals Godsspraak als drijfveer, standaard en model voor gebed bij Clemens van Rome aan de Corinthieërs

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benno A. Zuiddam
Keyword(s):  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Church Father ◽  
Holy Writ

Die eerste brief van Clemens Romanus aan die Korintiërs vertoon ‘n afhankelikheid van heilige Skrif en gebed. In die konteks van hierdie vroegchristelike brief is dit die Skrif wat gebed bevorder en vorm gee. Clemens het vir sy kennis van God staatgemaak op God se skriftelike openbaring, aangesien hy die Skrif beskou as Godsspraak in terme van inhoud en gesag. Die kerkvader nader God daarvolgens in sy gebedsantwoord op die Skrif. Die doel van gebed by die kerkvader is onder meer gerig daarop dat menslike gedrag gehoorsaamheid moet vertoon aan God se geopenbaarde Woord. Die vorm van gebed in Clemens se eerste brief aan die Korintiërs is dan ook grootliks aan die Skrif ontleen, beid ein die woorde en uitdrukkings wat hy hanteer. Die agenda en die inhoudspunte van gebede in hierdie vroegchristelike brief word ook deur die heilige Skrifte bepaal. Op hierdie wyse is Godsspraak dryfveer, standaard en model vir gebed by dié kerkvader.Clement of Rome’s letter to the Corinthians shows an interdependence of holy Scripture and prayer. In the context of this early Christian epistle, Divine revelation, primarily through Scripture, takes on an initiatory role for prayer. Clement considers the Scriptures as oracles of God in terms of their contents and authority. In his prayer-response to Scripture, both for contents and words, Clement shows himself inspired by holy Scripture. Consequently, Clement’s prayer is aimed at conformity of human behaviour to what he considers God’s revealed standards. As to the format of prayer in Clement to the Corinthians, words and expressions are largely borrowed from the sacred Scriptures. The agenda and themes of prayer in this letter are set by holy Writ as well, reinforcing the role of Scripture as initiator, standard and prototype for prayer, as the early church father reaches out to God.

Cooperative action between fishermen and inspectors in the Svalbard Zone

Polar Record ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 35 (194) ◽  
pp. 207-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geir Hønneland
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Cooperative Action ◽  
System A ◽  
The Social ◽  
Local Commons ◽  
The Many

AbstractThis article demonstrates that, similar to the many cases of self-regulation of local commons, it is in certain conditions also possible to manage an international ocean-fishery without the use of direct coercion. The case study from the Svalbard Zone supports the argument of cooperative action theory: that a limited number of participants, rules at least partly designed by the users themselves, and a system of graduated punishment contribute to compliance with established rules. Based on observational data as well as in-depth interviews with Norwegian and Russian fishermen in the area, it seems particularly fruitful to conceive of the Norwegian Coast Guard not only as a state enforcement body in the Svalbard Zone, but its representatives also as constituent parts of a social system, a ‘seafaring community,’ in the area. When, due to jurisdictional dispute, it has been impossible to rely fully on external regulation in the area, the Coast Guard has taken upon itself the role of the mediator, admittedly representing state interests, but nevertheless aimed at achieving consensus with the fishing fleet on important regulation issues. Hence, the internal authority of this Arctic Ocean fisheries lies above all in the interface between fishermen's and inspector's arguments, and in the social relations accompanying the exchange of professional opinions.

Participative project management as a comprehensive response to postmodernism criticisms

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 935-959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrdad Sarhadi ◽  
Saied Yousefi ◽  
Amin Zamani
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Theories ◽  
Postmodern Philosophy ◽  
Paradigmatic Change ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
First Time

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the philosophical changes which underpin research and practices in project management. This study is an attempt to challenge previous studies that have tried to explain this change in order to provide a better explanation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt a critical review research method to challenge previous explanations of the paradigm change and definition of communication. For this purpose, philosophical and social theories and concepts have been used.FindingsThis paper proposed changing the paradigm from modernism to postmodernism and the paradigm shift, which happens from postmodernism to participation, as a better explanation for the paradigmatic change in project management. Furthermore, the important role of communication has been illustrated in the participation paradigm.Originality/valueFor the first time in project management, the authors attempt to clarify the role of power in this paradigmatic shift, especially because this concept is an axial concept in postmodern philosophy and a neglected concept in project management literature. In addition, communicative action theory has been used with the aim of pursuing the influence of informal power in the participation paradigm and paving the way for confronting its emerging challenges in future studies.

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