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 1 - Action and Ontology
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 articulate and defend several views that play important roles throughout the remainder of the book. First, I articulate the task of a metaphysical theory of action as that of providing an account of the distinction between actions and mere behaviours. I then distinguish two things we might mean to talk about when we talk about someone’s actions: the things they do; and their particular doings of those things. I argue that we are ontologically committed to entities of both types, and defend my preferred ontology, according to which particular doings are events, while the things we do are a kind of property we possess.
Keywords
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- Information
- Negative ActionsEvents, Absences, and the Metaphysics of Agency, pp. 9 - 42Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021