Timothy O'Connor is Professor and Department Chair of philosophy at Indiana University Bloomington, and a member of its Cognitive Sciences program. He has published extensively in metaphysics, philosophy of mind and action, and philosophy of religion. His books include Agents, Causes, and Events: Essays on Indeterminism and Free Will (ed. 1995), Persons and Causes: The Metaphysics of Free Will (2000), Philosophy of Mind: Contemporary Readings (ed. 2003), Theism and Ultimate Explanation: The Necessary Shape of Contingency (2008) and Downward Causation and the Necessity of Free Will (ed. 2010).

Constantine Sandis is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Oxford Brookes University and New York University in London. He is the editor of New Essays on the Explanation of Action (2009) and Hegel on Action (with Arto Laitinen, 2010), and author of The Things We Do and Why We Do Them (2010).

List of Illustrations xii
Notes on Contributors xiii
Preface to the Paperback Edition xxii
Acknowledgments xxiii
Introduction xxiv
Part I Acts and Actions 1
1 Action Theory and Ontology 3
E. J. Lowe
2 Basic Actions and Individuation 10
Constantine Sandis
3 Trying to Act 18
Jennifer Hornsby
4 Bodily Movements 26
Adrian Haddock
5 The Causal Theory of Action 32
Wayne A. Davis
6 Adverbs of Action and Logical Form 40
Kirk Ludwig
7 Refraining, Omitting, and Negative Acts 50
Kent Bach
8 Speech Acts 58
Mitchell S. Green
9 Collective Action 67
Margaret Gilbert
10 Habitual Actions 74
Bill Pollard
11 Cambridge Actions 82
David-Hillel Ruben
12 Pluralism about Action 90
Elijah Millgram
Part II Agency and Causation 97
13 Volition and the Will 99
Laura W. Ekstrom
14 Intention 108
Alfred R. Mele
15 Desire and Pleasure 114
Timothy Schroeder
16 Teleological Explanation 121
Scott Sehon
17 Reasons and Causes 129
Timothy O'Connor
18 Triggering and Structuring Causes 139
Fred Dretske
19 Motivating Reasons 145
Stephen Everson
20 Humeanism about Motivation 153
Michael Smith
21 Deviant Causal Chains 159
Rowland Stout
22 Action Explanation and the Unconscious 166
Edward Harcourt
23 Mental Causation and Epiphenomenalism 174
John Heil
24 The Explanatory Role of Consciousness 182
Naomi Eilan
25 What a Difference Emotions Make 191
Sabine A. Döring
26 Agency, Patiency, and Personhood 200
Soran Reader
27 Mental Acts 209
Joëlle Proust
28 Agent Causation 218
Randolph Clarke
29 Bodily Awareness and Bodily Action 227
Hong Yu Wong
30 Agents' Knowledge 236
Johannes Roessler
31 Practical Reasoning 244
Bart Streumer
32 Deliberation and Decision 252
Philip Pettit
33 Motivational Strength 259
Alfred R. Mele
34 Addiction and Compulsion 267
Neil Levy
35 Akrasia and Irrationality 274
Sergio Tenenbaum
Part III Action in Special Contexts 283
36 Rationality 285
John Broome
37 Motivational Internalism and Externalism 293
G. F. Schueler
38 Free Will and Determinism 301
Thomas Pink
39 Responsibility and Autonomy 309
John Martin Fischer
40 Virtuous Action 317
Rosalind Hursthouse
41 The Doctrine of Double Effect 324
David S. Oderberg
42 Action and Criminal Responsibility 331
R. A. Duff
43 Intention in Law 338
Gideon Yaffe
44 Scientifi c Challenges to Free Will 345
Eddy Nahmias
45 Intentional Action in Folk Psychology 357
Bertram F. Malle
46 Attribution Theory 366
Bernard Weiner
47 Rational Agency in Evolutionary Perspective 374
Kim Sterelny and Ben Jeffares
48 Animal Agency 384
Hans-Johann Glock
49 Action in Cognitive Ethology 393
Marc Bekoff
50 Action in History and Social Science 401
Daniel Little
51 The Prediction of Action 410
Nassim N. Taleb and Avital Pilpel
Part IV Prominent Figures 417
52 Indian Philosophers 419
Elisa Freschi
53 Plato 429
Christine J. Thomas
54 Aristotle 439
Ursula Coope
55 Stoics, Epicureans, and Aristotelians 447
T. H. Irwin
56 Augustine and Aquinas 459
Stephen Boulter
57 Duns Scotus 466
Thomas Williams
58 Thomas Hobbes 473
Thomas Pink
59 Descartes 481
Paul Hoffman
60 Locke 490
Matthew Stuart
61 Berkeley 496
Tom Stoneham
62 Thomas Reid 505
Maria Alvarez
63 Hume 513
Annette C. Baier
64 Kant 521
Eric Watkins
65 Nietzsche 528
Brian Leiter
66 Hegel 537
Michael Quante
67 Weber 546
Kieran Allen
68 Wittgenstein 554
Severin Schroeder
69 Ryle 562
Julia Tanney
70 Sartre 570
Katherine J. Morris
71 Chisholm 578
Michael J. Zimmerman
72 von Wright 589
Frederick Stoutland
73 Davidson 598
Ralf Stoecker
74 Anscombe 606
Roger Teichmann
75 Rico[...]
Anna C. Zielinska
Index 622