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20022
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To be intentional, an action must succeed in the manner in which it was planned [Wilson/Schpall]
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Full Idea:
If someone fires a bullet to kill someone, misses, and dislodges hornets that sting him to death, this implies that an intentional action must include succeeding in a manner according to the original plan.
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From:
Wilson,G/Schpall,S (Action [2012], 2)
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A reaction:
[their example, compressed] This resembles Gettier's problem cases for knowledge. If the shooter deliberately and maliciously brought down the hornet's nest, that would be intentional murder. Sounds right.
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20023
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If someone believes they can control the lottery, and then wins, the relevant skill is missing [Wilson/Schpall]
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Full Idea:
If someone enters the lottery with the bizarre belief that they can control who wins, and then wins it, that suggest that intentional actions must not depend on sheer luck, but needs competent exercise of the relevant skill.
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From:
Wilson,G/Schpall,S (Action [2012], 2)
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A reaction:
A nice companion to Idea 20022, which show that a mere intention is not sufficient to motivate and explain an action.
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20025
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We might intend two ways to acting, knowing only one of them can succeed [Wilson/Schpall]
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Full Idea:
If an agent tries to do something by two different means, only one of which can succeed, then the behaviour is rational, even though one of them is an attempt to do an action which cannot succeed.
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From:
Wilson,G/Schpall,S (Action [2012], 2)
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A reaction:
[a concise account of a laborious account of an example from Bratman 1984, 1987] Bratman uses this to challenge the 'Simple View', that intention leads straightforwardly to action.
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20031
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On one model, an intention is belief-desire states, and intentional actions relate to beliefs and desires [Wilson/Schpall]
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Full Idea:
On the simple desire-belief model, an intention is a combination of desire-belief states, and an action is intentional in virtue of standing in the appropriate relation to these simpler terms.
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From:
Wilson,G/Schpall,S (Action [2012], 4)
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A reaction:
This is the traditional view found in Hume, and is probably endemic to folk psychology. They cite Bratman 1987 as the main opponent of the view.
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20028
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Groups may act for reasons held by none of the members, so maybe groups are agents [Wilson/Schpall]
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Full Idea:
Rational group action may involve a 'collectivising of reasons', with participants acting in ways that are not rationally recommended from the individual viewpoint. This suggests that groups can be rational, intentional agents.
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From:
Wilson,G/Schpall,S (Action [2012], 2)
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A reaction:
[Pettit 2003] is the source for this. Gilbert says individuals can have joint commitment; Pettit says the group can be an independent agent. The matter of shared intentions is interesting, but there is no need for the ontology to go berserk.
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20027
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If there are shared obligations and intentions, we may need a primitive notion of 'joint commitment' [Wilson/Schpall]
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Full Idea:
An account of mutual obligation to do something may require that we give up reductive individualist accounts of shared activity and posit a primitive notion of 'joint commitment'.
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From:
Wilson,G/Schpall,S (Action [2012], 2)
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A reaction:
[attributed to Margaret Gilbert 2000] If 'we' are trying to do something, that seems to give an externalist picture of intentions, rather like all the other externalisms floating around these days. I don't buy any of it, me.
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