Facing the Future: Agents and Choices in Our Indeterminist World

Front Cover
Oxford University Press, Aug 2, 2001 - Philosophy - 520 pages
Here is an important new theory of human action, a theory that assumes actions are founded on choices made by agents who face an open future. It is a theory that makes indeterminism not only intelligible but illuminating. Tools from philosophy of language and philosophical logic help generate a full-scale account of agents "seeing to it that." The authors then proceed to clarify a variety of action-related topics such as determinism vs. indeterminism, imperatives, promises, strategies, joint agency, "could have done otherwise," deontic constructions, and assertions about a not yet settled future.
 

Contents

Foundations of indeterminism
131
Applications of the achievement stit
253
Applications of the deliberative stit
293
Strategies
339
Proofs and models
379
Lists for reference
459
Bibliography
475
Index
483
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 4 - The beginning of sense, not to say wisdom, is to realize that 'doing an action', as used in philosophy,1 is a highly abstract expression it is a stand-in used in the place of any (or almost any?) verb with a personal subject, in the same sort of way that 'thing...

Bibliographic information