Mental Actions

by Lucy O'Brien, Matthew Soteriou

Overview

This volume investigates the neglected topic of mental action, and shows its importance for the metaphysics, epistemology, and phenomenology of mind. Twelve specially written essays address such questions as the following: Which phenomena should we count as mental actions—imagining, remembering, judging, for instance? How should we explain our knowledge of our mental actions, and what light does that throw on self-knowledge in general? What contributions do mental actions make to our consciousness? What is the relationship between the voluntary and the active, in the mental sphere? What are the similarities and differences between mental and physical action, and what can we learn about each from the other?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199225989
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Pages:	422
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Lucy O'Brien is Reader in Philosophy at University College London.

Matthew Soteriou is Lecturer in Philosophy at Warwick University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction, Matthew Soteriou (Warwick University)
Chapter 2 Mental Action: A Case Study, Al Mele (Florida State University)
Chapter 3 Judging and the Scope of Mental Agency, Fabian Dorsch (University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
Chapter 4 Reason in Action, John Gibbons (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Chapter 5 Reason, Voluntariness and Moral Responsibility, Thomas Pink (King's College London)
Chapter 6 Freedom and Practical Judgement, David Owens (University of Sheffield)
Chapter 7 Two Kinds of Agency, Pamela Hieronymi (University of California, Los Angeles)
Chapter 8 Trying and Acting, Brian O'Shaughnessy (King's College London)
Chapter 9 Perceptual Activity and the Will, Thomas Crowther (Heythrop College, University of London)
Chapter 10 Mental Action and Self-Awareness (II): Epistemology, Christopher Peacocke (Columbia University)
Chapter 11 Mental Actions and the No-Content Problem, Lucy O'Brien (University College London)
Chapter 12 Mental Agency, Conscious Thinking and Phenomenal Character, Matthew Soteriou (Warwick University)
Chapter 13 Is There a Sense of Agency for Thought? Joëlle Proust (Institut Nicod)

Editorial Reviews

"Turning now to assess the collection as a whole, I would say that it certainly succeeds in demonstrating the interest of the topic of mental action, and in opening a large number of fruitful lines of inquiry.... Soteriou gives a meticulous overview in his Introduction.... This is a volume that genuinely breaks new ground, and one that will be of broad interest to philosophers of mind, action theorists, and moral psychologists."—Matthew Boyle, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

From the Publisher