Causing Actions

Paul Pietroski presents an original philosophical theory of actions and their mental causes. We often act for reasons, deliberating and choosing among options, based on our beliefs and desires. But because bodily motions always have biochemical causes, it can seem that thinking and acting are biochemical processes. Pietroski argues that thoughts and deeds are in fact distinct from, though dependent on, underlying biochemical processes within persons.

Paul M. Pietroski is Associate Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of Maryland. He was previously Associate Professor at McGill University.

Introduction
1: Actions as Inner Causes
2: Fregean Innocence
3: From Explanation to Causation
4: Other Things Being Equal
5: Personal Dualism
6: Modal Concerns
7: Natural Causes
Appendix: The Semantic Wages of Neuralism
References, Index