Screen LibraryThe Things we do and why we do them
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| Main Authors: | |
|---|---|
| Published: |
Palgrave Macmillan,
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| Publisher Address: | Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, U.K. New York, N.Y. |
| Publication Dates: | 2012. |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Carrier Form: | xix, 226 p.:: ill. ; 23 cm |
| ISBN: |
9780230522121 (hardback) 0230522122 (hardback) |
| Index Number: | B01 |
| CLC: | B01 |
| Call Number: | B01/S217 |
| Contents: |
Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-214) and index. Twenty Conflating Views to be Avoided -- Objects and Objectives of Action Explanation -- Conflation in Action -- What Makes an Action Explanation Proper? -- The Operation of Reasons -- Nested Explanations -- The Structure of Agential Explanation -- Spheres of Explanation -- Appendix 1. The Ontology of Action -- Appendix II: Thought and Motive in Historiography. "The Things We Do and Why We Do Them argues against the common assumption that there is a kind of thing called "action" which all reason-giving explanation of action are geared towards. Sandis explains why all theories concerned with the form which any such explanation must take fail from the outset, and shows how various debates on the nature of so-called motivating reasons only arise because the participants all share a number of mistaken views which follow from the basic assumption under attack. In so doing, he urges philosophers and psychologists alike to stop asking whether the explanation of action is causal, and to focus instead on its multifarious objects. This book will appeal to anyone interested in motivational psychology, the reasons for which we act, and the philosophy of explanation in general"-- |