Full Idea
It is plausible that we find something characteristic of intentional agency when we look inward to the mental precursors of actions, and also when we look outward, to the sensitivity of action to what the environment gives us reasons to do.
Gist of Idea
Intentional agency is seen in internal precursors of action, and in external reasons for the act
Source
Rowland Stout (Action [2005], 1 'How')
A Reaction
This is Stout staking a claim for his partly externalist view of agency. I warm less and less to the various forms of externalism. How often does the environment 'give us reasons' to do things? How can we act, without internalising those reasons?
Book Reference
Stout,Rowland: 'Action' [Acumen 2005], p.6