1.

Record Nr.

UNINA990002005610403321

Autore

Castle, William Ernest <1867-1962>

Titolo

Genetics and eugenics : a text-book for students of biology and a reference book for animal and plant breeders / W. E. Castle

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1916, 1921

Edizione

[2nd ed.]

Descrizione fisica

353 p. ; 23 cm

Disciplina

591.15

581.15

Locazione

DAGEN

Collocazione

61 III B.2/02

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia



2.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910460311403321

Autore

Brown D. G (Donald George)

Titolo

Action / / D. G. Brown

Pubbl/distr/stampa

[Toronto, Ontario] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 1968

©1968

ISBN

1-4426-3258-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (165 p.)

Collana

Heritage

Disciplina

128

Soggetti

Act (Philosophy)

Agent (Philosophy)

Philosophical anthropology

Mind and body

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- 1. The point of view of the agent -- 2. The agent and his body -- 3. The origin of the idea of agency -- 4. The attribution of effects -- Index -- Backmatter

Sommario/riassunto

Professor Brown in this volume discusses one of the most difficult questions in metaphysics, “what is action?” His analysis proceeds along three main lines of thought: the point of view of the agent, the primacy of inanimate action, and the pervasiveness of explanatory insight in the description of action. In the spirit of recent work on practical reasoning, he takes the central fact about human action to be the existence of the point of view, and considers the agent’s relation to his own body, Professor Brown argues that the concept of human action is best understood through that of inanimate action, such as the action of wind on trees or an axe on wood. His analysis takes inanimate action as fundamental, and defends it against the popular theory that it is an anthropomorphic projection. Human action is indeed unique. But it is also Professor Brown’s thesis that the classical empiricist search for the brute fact of our own agency yields no more than incidental insights into its nature; introspection does not replace the analysis of human action.The analysis in this essay caters for inanimate action as well as



for the uniqueness of human action. The key to an analysis complex enough to cover both is the notion of “attributability,” which Professor Brown regards as providing “an Aristotelian extension of a Humean approach to causation.” Explanation by reference to the soul exploits the point of view of the rational agent. In this way, both human and inanimate action are exhibited as natural phenomena the descriptions of which are pervaded by explanatory insight.The book as a whole gives an account of action in which the peculiarities of human action find their place in nature. It does not enter on questions of ethics, but remains with concepts common to morality, psychology, and history. There are incidental discussions of deliberation, psychokinesis, casual necessity, the agent’s knowledge of his action, and responsibility. Here is a controversial theory of action supported by careful argument. Professor Brown’s writing is both ambitious in scope and attentive to conceptual detail, and offers a valuable contribution to one of the liveliest contemporary debates in philosophy.