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Is Davidson's Theory of Action Consistent?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Robert Murray*
Affiliation:
Erindale College, University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON, CanadaL5L 1C8 Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, ON, CanadaM5B 2K3

Extract

A theory of human action should provide an account of the connection between reason and action when an agent acts for a reason, and it should provide an account of the explanatory force of explanations of actions. On the causal theory of action, the connection between reasons and actions is that of event causality and explanations of actions are modeled on ordinary causal explanations, where events are explained by citing other events as their causes. A once common objection to the causal theory had it that reasons cannot be causes, since explanations of actions do not fit reason and action into a nomic nexus expressed by laws or law-like generalizations. Against this train of thought, Donald Davidson defends a version of the causal theory by arguing that the view that the connection between reasons and actions is that of event causality and the view that explanations of actions do not fit reasons and actions into a nomic nexus are compatible. Davidson's theory generated a small industry of criticism focusing on the implications of his version of the causal theory for the nature of the causal connection between reasons and actions.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 1995

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References

1 Examples include Honderich, TedThe Argument for Anomalous Monism,Analysis 42 (1982) 5964CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sosa, ErnestMind-Body Interaction and Supervenient Causation,Midwest Studies in Philosophy 9 (1984) 271-81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kim, JaegwonThe Myth of Nonreductive Materialism,Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association 63 (1989) 3147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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18 I am indebted to Tori McGeer, Bernie Katz, André Gombay, Mark Thornton, Betty Harlow, and the referees of the Canadian Journal of Philosophy for considerable advice.