Action, Emotion and Will (Key Texts S.) - Softcover

Kenny, Anthony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1855063190 ISBN 13: 9781855063198

Publisher: Thoemmes Continuum, 1995

Synopsis

Kenny attacks previous philosophical tendencies that considered the passions primarily as objects of inspection, the presence of which we are aware by having them, and traces his argument against behaviourists who define emotions in terms of patterns of behaviour. Rejecting the view that emotions, motives and desires are private internal events, differentiated by their different feels, he argues that they are differentiated by the kinds of desires, contexts and activities that are relevant to them. Through a variety of distinctions and analyses, he sketches a theory of the will developed from Geach's account of judgement found in "Mental Acts". He searches for an account of "fully human action" where intention is central and develops an interesting and original theory of voluntary action.

About this title

Review

"It is welcome news that Kenny's" Action, Emotion and Will is to be republished. It played an important role in my thinking about action, especially some of its logical and ontological aspects. The problem of when two descriptions are descriptions of the same action was raised for the first time, as far as I know, by Elizabeth Anscombe in Intention. Kenny deserves much credit for having clarified the nature of the problem, which has become central to most subsequent work in the field."
-Donald Davidson, University of California, Berkeley

About the Author

Sir Anthony Kenny is former Professor of Philosophy at St. John's College, Oxford. he is the author of many books, including The Oxford History of Western Philosophy and Aquinas on Being.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thoemmes Continuum
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1855063190
• ISBN 13: 9781855063198
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252