The boundaries of the intentional

2012-03-27My dissertation explores the nature and extent of intentional action. I begin by arguing for a necessary connection between intentional action and the state of intention. I then argue that this commonsense view—known as the Single Phenomenon View—is inconsistent with two highly influential theories of intention; thus, both theories require modification. My focus then turns to the possibility of negative intentional action. I defend an account of refraining whereby refrainings are conceived as a type of intentional action. Furthermore, my account of refraining leads to a novel argument for the existence of non-intentional action—action that is neither intentional nor unintentional. This argument involves, among other things, developing an account of unintentional action. One important consequence of my dissertation is that all action—intentional, unintentional and non-intentional—issues from the state of intention