Single Idea 20071

[catalogued under 20. Action / B. Preliminaries of Action / 1. Intention to Act / d. Group intentions]

Full Idea

An individual intention is a goal to which an individual's behaviour adapts. A shared intention is a goal to which a group of people's behaviour collectively adapts.

Gist of Idea

An intention is a goal to which behaviour is adapted, for an individual or for a group

Source

Rowland Stout (Action [2005], 7 'Shared')

Book Reference

Stout,Rowland: 'Action' [Acumen 2005], p.116


A Reaction

This is part of Stout's externalist approach to actions. One would have thought that an intention was a state of mind, not a goal in the world. The individual's goal can be psychological, but a group's goal has to be an abstraction.