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Single Idea 6384

[filed under theme 20. Action / C. Motives for Action / 3. Acting on Reason / a. Practical reason ]

Full Idea

My thesis is that the ordinary notion of cause is essential to understanding what it is to act with a reason, to have an intention to act, to be an agent, to act counter to one's own best judgement, or to act freely.

Gist of Idea

The notion of cause is essential to acting for reasons, intentions, agency, akrasia, and free will

Source

Donald Davidson (Intro to 'Essays on Actions and Events' [1980], p.xi)

Book Ref

Davidson,Donald: 'Essays on Actions and Events' [OUP 1982], p.-6

A Reaction

I cautiously agree, particularly with idea that causation is essential to acting as an agent. Since I believe 'free will' to be a complete delusion, that part of his thesis doesn't interest me. The hard part is understanding acting for a reason.

The 31 ideas with the same theme [reasoning processes that lead to action]:

5839 For Socrates, wisdom and prudence were the same thing [Socrates, by Xenophon]
4371 Seeing particulars as parts of larger wholes is to perceive their value [Achtenberg on Aristotle]
69 We deliberate about means, not ends [Aristotle]
73 Practical intellect serves to arrive at the truth which corresponds to right appetite [Aristotle]
20212 Practical reason is truth-attaining, and focused on actions good for human beings [Aristotle]
5247 Prudence is mainly concerned with particulars, which is the sphere of human conduct [Aristotle]
80 Virtue ensures that we have correct aims, and prudence that we have correct means of achieving them [Aristotle]
5249 One cannot be prudent without being good [Aristotle]
82 The one virtue of prudence carries with it the possession of all the other virtues [Aristotle]
22508 Unlike in inanimate things, in animate things actions have more than one starting point [Aristotle]
22514 The deliberative part of the soul discerns explanatory causes [Aristotle]
1836 Prudence is more valuable than philosophy, because it avoids confusions of the soul [Epicurus]
2363 Reason is usually general, but deliberation is of particulars [Hobbes]
19343 We follow the practical rule which always seeks maximum effect for minimum cost [Leibniz]
6692 For Hume, practical reason has little force, because we can always modify our desires [Hume, by Graham]
23678 A motive is merely an idea, like advice, and not a force for action [Reid]
6190 The sole objects of practical reason are the good and the evil [Kant]
21059 General rules of action also need a judgement about when to apply them [Kant]
4173 If we were essentially intellect rather than will, our moral worth would depend on imagined motives [Schopenhauer]
23437 Practical reason is goodness in choosing actions [Foot]
23694 All criterions of practical rationality derive from goodness of will [Foot]
22480 Possessing the virtue of justice disposes a person to good practical rationality [Foot]
6384 The notion of cause is essential to acting for reasons, intentions, agency, akrasia, and free will [Davidson]
3840 We don't accept practical reasoning if the conclusion is unpalatable [Searle]
4316 Either all action is rational, or reason dominates, or reason is only concerned with means [Cottingham]
12627 Before you can plan action, you must decide on the truth of your estimate of success [Fodor]
3546 'Phronesis' should translate as 'practical intelligence', not as prudence [Annas]
23733 Motivating reasons are psychological, while normative reasons are external [Smith,M]
23740 Humeans take maximising desire satisfaction as the normative reasons for actions [Smith,M]
23745 We cannot expect even fully rational people to converge on having the same desires for action [Smith,M]
24000 Justifying reasons say you were right; excusing reasons say your act was explicable [Goldie]