Humean Nature

Humean Nature PDF Author: Neil Sinhababu
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191086479
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Get Book Here

Book Description
Neil Sinhababu defends the Humean Theory of Motivation, according to which desire drives all human action and practical reasoning. Desire motivates us to pursue its object, makes thoughts of its object pleasant or unpleasant, focuses attention on its object, and is amplified by vivid representations of its object. These aspects of desire explain a vast range of psychological phenomena - why motivation often accompanies moral belief, how intentions shape our planning, how we exercise willpower, what it is to be a human self, how we express our emotions in action, why we procrastinate, and what we daydream about. Some philosophers regard such phenomena as troublesome for the Humean Theory, but the properties of desire help Humeans provide simpler and better explanations of these phenomena than their opponents can. The success of the Humean Theory in explaining a wide range of folk-psychological and experimental data, including those that its opponents cite in counterexamples, suggest that it is true. And the Humean Theory has revolutionary consequences for ethics, suggesting that moral judgments are beliefs about what feelings like guilt, admiration, and hope accurately represent in objective reality.

Humean Nature

Humean Nature PDF Author: Neil Sinhababu
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191086479
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Get Book Here

Book Description
Neil Sinhababu defends the Humean Theory of Motivation, according to which desire drives all human action and practical reasoning. Desire motivates us to pursue its object, makes thoughts of its object pleasant or unpleasant, focuses attention on its object, and is amplified by vivid representations of its object. These aspects of desire explain a vast range of psychological phenomena - why motivation often accompanies moral belief, how intentions shape our planning, how we exercise willpower, what it is to be a human self, how we express our emotions in action, why we procrastinate, and what we daydream about. Some philosophers regard such phenomena as troublesome for the Humean Theory, but the properties of desire help Humeans provide simpler and better explanations of these phenomena than their opponents can. The success of the Humean Theory in explaining a wide range of folk-psychological and experimental data, including those that its opponents cite in counterexamples, suggest that it is true. And the Humean Theory has revolutionary consequences for ethics, suggesting that moral judgments are beliefs about what feelings like guilt, admiration, and hope accurately represent in objective reality.

Aristotle on Desire

Aristotle on Desire PDF Author: Giles Pearson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139561014
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 287

Get Book Here

Book Description
Desire is a central concept in Aristotle's ethical and psychological works, but he does not provide us with a systematic treatment of the notion itself. This book reconstructs the account of desire latent in his various scattered remarks on the subject and analyses its role in his moral psychology. Topics include: the range of states that Aristotle counts as desires (orexeis); objects of desire (orekta) and the relation between desires and envisaging prospects; desire and the good; Aristotle's three species of desire: epithumia (pleasure-based desire), thumos (retaliatory desire) and boulêsis (good-based desire - in a narrower notion of 'good' than that which connects desire more generally to the good); Aristotle's division of desires into rational and non-rational; Aristotle and some current views on desire; and the role of desire in Aristotle's moral psychology. The book will be of relevance to anyone interested in Aristotle's ethics or psychology.

The Brute Within

The Brute Within PDF Author: Hendrik Lorenz
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191537403
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
Hendrik Lorenz presents a comprehensive study of Plato's and Aristotle's conceptions of non-rational desire. They see this as something that humans share with animals, and which aims primarily at the pleasures of food, drink, and sex. Lorenz explores the cognitive resources that both philosophers make available for the explanation of such desires, and what they take rationality to add to the motivational structure of human beings. In doing so, he exposes a remarkable degree of continuity between Plato's and Aristotle's thought in this area. He also sheds fresh light, not only on both philosophers' theories of motivation, but also on how they conceive of the mind, both in itself and in relation to the body.

The Emotions

The Emotions PDF Author: O.H Green
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780792315490
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 230

Get Book Here

Book Description
Philosophical theories of emotions, and to an extent some theories of scientific psychology, represent attempts to capture the essence of emotions basically as they are conceived in common sense psychology. Although there are problems, the success of explanations of our behavior in terms of believes, desires and emotions creates a presumption that, at some level of abstraction, they reflect important elements in our psychological nature. It is incumbent on a theory of emotions to provide an account of two salient facts about emotions as conceived in common sense psychology. As intentional states, emotions have representational and rational properties: emotions represent states of affairs; and they are rationally related to other mental representations, figure in rational explanations of behavior, and are open to rational assessment. Emotions also have a close relationship to a range of non-intentional phenomena: in typical cases, emotions involve physiological changes, usually associated with the activation of the autonomic nervous system, which are proprioceptively experienced; and they often involve behavioral tendencies, as well.

The Retrieval of Ethics

The Retrieval of Ethics PDF Author: Talbot Brewer
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191619574
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Get Book Here

Book Description
Talbot Brewer presents an invigorating new approach to ethical theory, in the context of human selfhood and agency. The first main theme of the book is that contemporary ethical theorists have focused too narrowly on actions and the discrete episodes of deliberation through which we choose them, and that the subject matter of the field looks quite different if one looks instead at unfolding activities and the continuous forms of evaluative awareness that carry them forward and that constitute an essential element of those activities. The second is that ethical reflection is itself a centrally important life activity, and that philosophical ethics is an extension of this practical activity rather than a merely theoretical reflection upon it. Brewer's approach is founded on a far-reaching reconsideration of the notions of the nature and sources of human agency, and particularly of the way in which practical thinking gives shape to activities, relationships and lives. He contests the usual understanding of the relationship between philosophical psychology and ethics. The Retrieval of Ethics shows the need for a new contemplative vision of the point or value of human action — without which we will remain unable to make optimal sense of our efforts to unify our lives around a tenable conception of how best to live them, or of the yearnings that draw us to our ideals and to each other.

Being Realistic about Reasons

Being Realistic about Reasons PDF Author: T. M. Scanlon
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199678480
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 143

Get Book Here

Book Description
Is what we have reason to do a matter of fact? If so, what kind of truth is involved, how can we know it, and how do reasons motivate and explain action? In this concise and lucid book T.M. Scanlon offers answers, with a qualified defence of normative cognitivism - the view that there are normative truths about reasons for action.

Reasons for Belief

Reasons for Belief PDF Author: Andrew Reisner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139503049
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Get Book Here

Book Description
Philosophers have long been concerned about what we know and how we know it. Increasingly, however, a related question has gained prominence in philosophical discussion: what should we believe and why? This volume brings together twelve new essays that address different aspects of this question. The essays examine foundational questions about reasons for belief, and use new research on reasons for belief to address traditional epistemological concerns such as knowledge, justification and perceptually acquired beliefs. This book will be of interest to philosophers working on epistemology, theoretical reason, rationality, perception and ethics. It will also be of interest to cognitive scientists and psychologists who wish to gain deeper insight into normative questions about belief and knowledge.

The Nature of Desire

The Nature of Desire PDF Author: Julien A. Deonna
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199370966
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 361

Get Book Here

Book Description
Desires are central to our lives, yet we rarely understand them. What are they? And are they motivational or evaluative states? Should philosophy adopt an alternative picture entirely? Answering these questions is vital to a number of issues in philosophy of mind and ethics. This volume comprehensively explores this neglected, albeit crucial, dimension of the mind.

The Therapy of Desire

The Therapy of Desire PDF Author: Martha C. Nussbaum
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400831946
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 585

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Epicureans, Skeptics, and Stoics practiced philosophy not as a detached intellectual discipline but as a worldly art of grappling with issues of daily and urgent human significance. In this classic work, Martha Nussbaum maintains that these Hellenistic schools have been unjustly neglected in recent philosophic accounts of what the classical "tradition" has to offer. By examining texts of philosophers such as Epicurus, Lucretius, and Seneca, she recovers a valuable source for current moral and political thought and encourages us to reconsider philosophical argument as a technique through which to improve lives. Written for general readers and specialists, The Therapy of Desire addresses compelling issues ranging from the psychology of human passion through rhetoric to the role of philosophy in public and private life.

Intelligent Agents V. Agents Theories, Architectures, and Languages

Intelligent Agents V. Agents Theories, Architectures, and Languages PDF Author: Jörg Müller
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540657134
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 463

Get Book Here

Book Description
The leading edge of computer science research is notoriously ?ckle. New trends come and go with alarming and unfailing regularity. In such a rapidly changing ?eld, the fact that research interest in a subject lasts more than a year is worthy of note. The fact that, after ?ve years, interest not only remains, but actually continues to grow is highly unusual. As 1998 marked the ?fth birthday of the International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages (ATAL), it seemed appropriate for the organizers of the original workshop to comment on this remarkable growth, and re ect on how the ?eld has developed and matured. The ?rst ATAL workshop was co-located with the Eleventh European Conference on Arti?cial Intelligence (ECAI-94), which was held in Amsterdam. The fact that we chose an AI conference to co-locate with is telling: at that time, we expected most researchers with an interest in agents to come from the AI community. The workshop, whichwasplannedoverthesummerof1993,attracted32submissions,andwasattended by 55 people.ATAL was the largest workshop at ECAI-94, and the clear enthusiasm on behalfofthecommunitymadethedecisiontoholdanotherATALworkshopsimple.The ATAL-94proceedingswereformallypublishedinJanuary1995underthetitleIntelligent Agents, and included an extensive review article, a glossary, a list of key agent systems, and — unusually for the proceedings of an academic workshop — a full subject index. Thehighscienti?candproductionvaluesembodiedbytheATAL-94proceedingsappear to have been recognized by the community, and resulted inATAL proceedings being the most successful sequence of books published in Springer-Verlag s Lecture Notes in Arti?cial Intelligence series.