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

by G. F. Schueler

Overview

People do things for reasons. But philosophers have disagreed sharply about how 'reasons explanations' of actions actually work and hence about their implications for human freedom and autonomy. The dominant view in contemporary philosophy is the (Humean) idea that the beliefs and desires that constitute our reasons for acting simply cause us to act as we do. Fred Schueler seeks to replace such causal views, arguing that they leave out two essential elements of these explanations. Reasons explanations are inherently teleological in the sense that the agent's reasons always explain the purpose for which he acted. They are also inherently normative since it is always possible that an agent's reasons for doing something are not good reasons. Schueler argues that causal accounts of reasons explanations make no sense of either of these features; he argues instead for an account based on practical deliberation, our ability to evaluate the reasons we accept.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191530531
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/16/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	316 KB

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