How We Act

Abstract

Attempts to answer the question of whether it is possible to understand agency as realized within a world construed ‘naturalistically’, that is, in terms of causal relations among events and states of affairs, or whether an adequate ontology requires sui generis acts that are essentially voluntary, such as volitions or agent-causation. Berent Enç defends the possibility of naturalizing agency via a causal theory of action (CTA). In doing that, he develops his key notion of basic action (Chs 2 and 3); he offers a ‘general and original’ solution to the problem of causal deviance (Ch. 4); and, he attempts to answer the objection that CTA removes the agent from the picture altogether by offering a purely causal model for the deliberative process that underlies practical reasoning (Ch. 5). Furthermore, the book discusses objections to volitional theories (Ch. 1), intentions and intentional action (Ch. 6), and the compatibility of Enç’s CTA with attractive accounts of autonomy and freedom (Ch. 7).

Seeing what I am Doing

“…Hornsby , ch. 6, and Enç , ch. 2) have suggested the following way of defining the basicness of the agent's intentional action in terms of the agent's practical reasoning:…”

Persisting Intentions

“…However, a philosopher who claims that 3 entails 4 might mean nothing more than that, necessarily, the state of mind reported in 3 includes the one reported in 4. 2 See Brand 1984, Enç 2003 See Mele 1992, chs. 7-13 for an account of the nature and functions of nondispositional intentions.…”

Genetic resources of Pistacia vera L. in Central Asia

“…This fact is exemplified in the USA where commercial production is almost entirely based on the single cultivar 'Kerman' of Iranian origin (Parfitt 1991;Choa et al 1998). Also, pistachio breeding is a recent phenomenon with improvement programs based on controlled hybridizations operating only for the past two decades or less, limited mostly to the USA, Spain, and Turkey (Parfitt et al 1995(Parfitt et al , 2005Crane and Maranto 1988;Choa et al 1998;Mehlenbacher 2003;Hormaza and Wünsch 2007). This narrow genetic base for production increases the pistachio industry's vulnerability to introductions of new diseases and insect pests, as well as changing climates.…”