Human Action, Deliberation and Causation

Abstract

The essays collected in this volume explore the commonsensical fact that our presence as reasonable agents makes a causal difference to the course of events in the world. This fact implies two processes: deliberation and mental causation, processes that should be described in very different ways. Although each contributor to this volume thinks differently about how to conceive of the relation between these processes, all agree that progress in the philosophy of mind and action will depend upon a better understanding of this relation.