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20. Action / A. Definition of Action / 2. Duration of an Action

[fixing the start, duration and end of an action]

6 ideas

20030	If one event causes another, the two events must be wholly distinct [Hume, by Wilson/Schpall]
	Full Idea: Hume's maxim is that if one event cause another, then the two events must be wholly distinct.
	From: report of David Hume (Treatise of Human Nature [1739]) by Wilson,G/Schpall,S - Action 3
	A reaction: [Anyone know the original reference?] So we are not allowed to say that one part of an event caused another. The charged caused the victory, so they are two events, but in another context the whole battle is one event.

20020	If one action leads directly to another, they are all one action [Davidson, by Wilson/Schpall]
	Full Idea: Davidson (1980 ess 1) agreed with Anscombe that if a person Fs by G-ing, then her act F = her act G. For example, if someone accidentally alerts a burglar, by deliberately turning on a light, by flipping a switch, these are all the same action.
	From: report of Donald Davidson (Action, Reasons and Causes [1963]) by Wilson,G/Schpall,S - Action 1.2
	A reaction: I would have thought there was obviously a strong conventional element in individuating actions, depending on interest. An electrician is only interest in whether the light worked. The police are only interested in the disturbance of the burglar.

12843	With activities if you are doing it you've done it, with performances you must finish to have done it [Simons]
	Full Idea: Action theorists distinguish between activity verbs such as 'weep' and 'talk' (where continuous entails perfect - John is weeping so John has now wept), and performance verbs like 'wash', where John is washing doesn't yet mean John has washed.
	From: Peter Simons (Parts [1987], 4.2)
	A reaction: How to distinguish them, bar examples? In 'has wept' and 'has washed', I'm thinking that it is the 'has' which is ambiguous, rather than the more contentful word. One is 'has participated' and the other is 'has completed'. I've participated in washing!

20061	Mental states and actions need to be separate, if one is to cause the other [Stout,R]
	Full Idea: If psychological states and action results cannot be identified independently of one another, then it does not make sense to describe one as causing the other.
	From: Rowland Stout (Action [2005], 5 'Conclusion')
	A reaction: This summarises a widely cited unease about the causal theory of action. Any account in action theory will need to separate out some components and explain their interrelation. Otherwise actions are primitives, and we can walk away.

20079	Are actions bodily movements, or a sequence of intention-movement-result? [Stout,R]
	Full Idea: Are actions identical with bodily movements? Or are they identical with sequences of things starting inside the agent's mind with their intentions, going through their body movements and finishing with the external results being achieved?
	From: Rowland Stout (Action [2005], 9 'What is action')
	A reaction: If bodily movements are crucial, this presumably eliminates speech acts. Speech or writing may involve some movement, but the movement is almost irrelevant to the nature of the action. Telepathy would do equally well.

20080	If one action leads to another, does it cause it, or is it part of it? [Stout,R]
	Full Idea: When we do one action 'by' doing another, either the first action causes the process of the second, or the first action is part of the process of the second
	From: Rowland Stout (Action [2005], 9 'What is by')
	A reaction: Stout says the second view is preferable, because pressing a switch does not cause my action of turning on the light (though it does cause the light to come on).