Philosophy of Action

Code:

MFIL041

Acronym:

Instance: 2016/2017 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Philosophy
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in Philosophy

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MFIL	14	MFIL - Study Plan	1	-	10	58	270

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

To develop an overview of the problems in contemporary philosophy of action.

To explore and assess the relations between philosophy of action and 1. philosophy of mind, 2. moral and political philosophy (and the philosophy of economics)

To analyse and discuss positions on topics underlying all areas of practical philosophy, such as the nature and the explanation of actions, the nature of intention, deliberation and choice, the nature of akrasia, or the relations bewteen rationality and ethics.

To develop research skills in contemporary philosophy.

Learning outcomes and competences

To assess the importance of philosophy of action for understanding (in general, and outside Philosophy as a discipline) the nature of the questions of practical philosophy (from ethics to philosophy of economics).

The syllabus’ contents are articulated with the student’s learning outcomes by leading to the knowledge of the main authors and texts of the field, as well as to an analysis of the main problems of the disciplin.

Working method

Presencial

Program

I Introduction

Basic topics in the philosophy of action. The classics: Aristotle, G.E.M Anscombe and Donald Davidson on the nature of action, intention and relation between reasons and causes. Deliberation, decision, choice. Practical reasoning. The relations between philosophy of action and other philosphical disciplines.

II Selected topics

1. D. Davidson, H. Frankfurt and A. Mele on the belief-desire model and the explanation of action. 'Persons' and actions.

2. H. McCann: volitions and anti-naturalism

3. M. Bratman – the nature of practical reasoning

4. G. E. M. Anscombe: the importance of action and intention in the conception of the mental. Practical knowledge. Practical reasoning.

III. Three case studies of rationality and irrationality in action

1. Aristotle and D. Davidson on akrasia.

2. J. Rawls on justice and rational choice

3. J. McDowell on the nature of moral judgements (in contrast with C. Korsgaard, J. Mackie, B. Williams and S. Blackburn)

Mandatory literature

Anscombe, G.E. M; Intention, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1957
Aristóteles, 384-322 a.C; Éthique a Nicomaque
Cadilha, S. & Miguens, S.; “Filosofia da acção”. In A Filosofia por Disciplinas (Galvão, P. coord). , Lisboa: Edições 70, 2013
Charles, David; Aristotele.s philosophy of action. ISBN: 0-7156-1005-8
Davidson, Donald Herbert, 1917-2003; Essays on actions and events. ISBN: 0-19-824637-4
Mauro, C., Miguens, S. & Cadilha, S.; Conversations on Practical Rationality and Human Action. , Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press., 2012
McDowell, John; Mind, value, and reality. ISBN: 0-674-00713-1
Miguens, Sofia; Identidade pessoal e posição original Rawlsiana
Miguens, Sofia 340; Acção e ética. ISBN: 978-989-689-155-8
Miguens, Sofia; Racionalidade. ISBN: 972-610-858-6
Rawls, John, 1921-2002; Uma^teoria da justiça. ISBN: 972-23-1715-6
Miguens, Sofia; John McDowell. ISBN: 978-989-689-408-5

Teaching methods and learning activities

This course is conceived as a research seminar: although in each session the presentation of new materials takes place, the main general goal is, from the beggining, the individual essay which each student writes and defends at the end of the semester.

A document providing methodological guidelines is available online to students at the begging of the semester, outlining the 3 moments of the evaluation of each student’s research work: 1) the proposal of a theme, an abstract, and research methods, 2) the public presentation and defense of the research in a seminar colloquium, 3) the final written form of the essay.

There is furthermore a direct connection between the topics of the seminar and former externally funded research Projects undertaken at the Institute of Philosophy (Principal Investigator: S. Miguens), as well as projects currently underway. This means there there regularly are talks by invited speakers to which the seminar’s students are invited.

keywords

Humanities > Philosophy > Epistemology
Humanities > Philosophy > Ethics
Humanities > Philosophy > Philosophical anthropology

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	10,00
Trabalho escrito	90,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	100,00
Frequência das aulas	45,00
Trabalho de investigação	125,00
Total:	270,00

Calculation formula of final grade

Research paper (90%) - parameters of evaluation: plan, oral defense, final written form.

Recommend this page Top

Copyright 1996-2025 © Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto I Terms and Conditions I Acessibility I Index A-Z
Page created on: 2025-12-02 at 10:09:14 | Privacy Policy | Personal Data Protection Policy | Whistleblowing | Electronic Yellow Book