Explaining Our Actions

A Critique of Common-Sense Theorizing
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-009-58576-7
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 232 Seiten, Format (B × H): 154 mm x 231 mm, Gewicht: 522 g

We often explain our actions and those of others using a commonsense framework of perceptions, beliefs, desires, emotions, decisions, and intentions. In his thoughtful new book, Peter Carruthers scrutinizes this everyday explanation for our actions, while also examining the explanatory framework through the lens of cutting-edge cognitive science. He shows that the 'standard model' of belief–desire psychology (developed, in fact, with scant regard for science) is only partly valid; that there are more types of action and action-explanation than the model allows; and that both ordinary folk and armchair philosophers are importantly mistaken about the types of mental state that the human mind contains. His book will be of great value to all those who rely in their work on assumptions drawn from commonsense psychology, whether in philosophy of mind, epistemology, moral psychology, ethics, or psychology itself. It will also be attractive to anyone with an interest in human motivation.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Carruthers, Peter

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface; 1. Introduction and background assumptions; 2. Habits, skills, and know-how; 3. Affect-caused action; 4. Mental actions; 5. Decision-making and goals; 6. Pleasure and (affective forms of) desire; 7. Belief, judgment, and knowledge; 8. Do attitudes come in degrees?; 9. Summary and conclusions; References; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Carruthers, Peter
Peter Carruthers is Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland. His publications include Human and Animal Minds (2019) and Human Motives: Hedonism, Altruism, and the Science of Affect (2024).