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Intending, knowing how, infinitives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Jennifer Hornsby*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, Humanity Faculty, Oslo, Norway

Abstract

Intellectualists tell us that a person who knows how to do something therein knows a proposition. Along with others, they may say that a person who intends to do something intends a proposition. I argue against them. I do so by way of considering ‘know how ——’ and ‘intend ——’ together. When the two are considered together, a realistic conception of human agency can inform the understanding of some infinitives: the argument need not turn on what semanticists have had to say about (what they call) ‘the subjects of infinitival clauses’.

Type
Distinguished Lecture
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2016

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