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Agent causation as a solution to the problem of action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Michael Brent
Michael Brent*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Denver, Denver, CO, USA
*
Email: michael.brent@du.edu
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Abstract

My primary aim is to defend a nonreductive solution to the problem of action. I argue that when you are performing an overt bodily action, you are playing an irreducible causal role in bringing about, sustaining, and controlling the movements of your body, a causal role best understood as an instance of agent causation. Thus, the solution that I defend employs a notion of agent causation, though emphatically not in defence of an account of free will, as most theories of agent causation are. Rather, I argue that the notion of agent causation introduced here best explains how it is that you are making your body move during an action, thereby providing a satisfactory solution to the problem of action.

Keywords

The problem of actioneffortagentcausal powersagent causation
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 47 , Issue 5 , 2017 , pp. 656 - 673
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2017

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