Book contents
- Negative Actions
- Negative Actions
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Action and Ontology
- Chapter 2 The Problem of Negative Action
- Chapter 3 Mere Manifestations of Agency?
- Chapter 4 The Logical Form of Negative Action Sentences I
- Chapter 5 The Logical Form of Negative Action Sentences II
- Chapter 6 The Logical Form of Negative Action Sentences III
- Chapter 7 Realizer-Functionalism and the Metaphysics of Events
- Chapter 8 Objections
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Chapter 3 - Mere Manifestations of Agency?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2021
- Negative Actions
- Negative Actions
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Action and Ontology
- Chapter 2 The Problem of Negative Action
- Chapter 3 Mere Manifestations of Agency?
- Chapter 4 The Logical Form of Negative Action Sentences I
- Chapter 5 The Logical Form of Negative Action Sentences II
- Chapter 6 The Logical Form of Negative Action Sentences III
- Chapter 7 Realizer-Functionalism and the Metaphysics of Events
- Chapter 8 Objections
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
In this chapter, I consider whether we can solve the problem of negative action by insisting that intentional omissions, refrainments, and the like aren’t really actions at all, but ‘mere manifestations of agency’. I argue that the distinction between actions and mere manifestations of agency is more difficult to draw than it may appear, and that drawing such a distinction requires us to abandon plausible claims about the relations between powers and their manifestations, and between intentional behaviour and practical reasons. We must find some other solution to the problem.
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- Negative ActionsEvents, Absences, and the Metaphysics of Agency, pp. 68 - 85Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021