Reasons and Purposes: Human Rationality and the Teleological Explanation of Action

by G. F. Schueler

Overview

People act for reasons. That is how we understand ourselves. But what is it to act for a reason? This is what Fred Schueler investigates. He rejects the dominant view that the beliefs and desires that constitute our reasons for acting simply cause us to act as we do, and argues instead for a view centred on practical deliberation—our ability to evaluate the reasons we accept. Schueler's account of 'reasons explanations' emphasizes the relation between reasons and purposes, and the fact that the reasons for an action are not always good reasons.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199250370
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/10/2003
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

University of New Mexico

Table of Contents

1. 1. Purposes, Causes, and Reasons Explanations2. Reasons and Causes3. Causes and Causal Explanations4. 2. Non Telelogical Explanations of Actions5. Are 'Causal' Explanations Unavoidable? 6. 3. Teleological Explanations of Actions7. Character Traits8. 4. Explaining in Terms of the Agent's Reasoning9. Practical Reasoning and the Explanation of Actions10. Practical Reasoning and Evaluations11. The Principle of Charity12. 5. The Inherently Normative Nature of Action Explanations13. Normative Explanations II: The Agent's PerspectiveBibliography