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The Nature of Intention The Nature of Intention Gil Alexander Percival University College London Department of Philosophy PhD ! 1! Declaration I, Gil Alexander Percival, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. G.A.P. September 2013 ! 2! Abstract Imagine you face the following choice: either spending the evening at a party, or going to the library and continuing with the paper you have been working on. You have been working hard recently and have a strong desire to go to the party. On the other hand, you have an important deadline coming up and need to make progress with the paper. Whichever way you decide, once the decision is made you will enter into new kind of state, adopting a particular kind of attitude towards your own future. This is the state of intention. What is the nature of this state? The thesis to be defended over the following five chapters is that intention is a primitive and irreducible mental state, non-analyzable in terms of any other, supposedly more basic, folk-psychological states or attitudes, or combination thereof, such as desire and belief. I make two important claims about intention. One is that intention is a state that, like belief, has an aim. However, whereas the aim of belief is knowledge, the aim of intention is self-control, or determining what one will do in the future. I argue that it is the fact that intention aims at self-control that explains certain distinctive normative features of intention that distinguish intention from desire and belief. The other claim is that intention is a kind of disposition – the disposition of an agent to pursue an aim or goal. I argue that this explains certain distinctive causal and descriptive features of intention that distinguish it from desire and belief. ! 3! Table of Contents Abstract!.....................................................................................................................................................!3! Introduction!.............................................................................................................................................!6! Chapter One!.........................................................................................................................................!10! Bratman on the Irreducibility of Intention!..................................................................................!10! 1. Introduction!................................................................................................................................!10! 1.1 The Planning Theory!.........................................................................................................!10! 1.2 Objections to the Predominant Desire Theory!..........................................................!15! 1.3 Objections to the Supplemented Desire Theory!.......................................................!21! 1.4 Intention and Planning!.....................................................................................................!30! 1.5 Conclusion!............................................................................................................................!33! Chapter Two!.........................................................................................................................................!36! Cognitivism and the Requirements of Practical Rationality!....................................................!36! 2. Introduction!................................................................................................................................!36! 2.1 The Cognitivist Explanation of the Requirements!....................................................!37! 2.2 Bratman’s Objections!.......................................................................................................!44! 2.3. Infallibility!............................................................................................................................!47! 2.4 Further Objections to Infallibility!..................................................................................!53! 2.5 Conclusion!............................................................................................................................!59! Chapter 3!...............................................................................................................................................!60! Congitivism and the Epistemic Conditions on Intentional Action!.......................................!60! 3. Introduction!................................................................................................................................!60! 3.1 Velleman’s theory!...............................................................................................................!61! 3.2 Intending and Deciding to Believe!................................................................................!68! 3.3 Can’t Epiphenomenalists Form Intentions?!...............................................................!73! 3.4 Setiya’s Theory!....................................................................................................................!76! 3.5 Anscombe on Practical Knowledge!..............................................................................!84! 3.6 Conclusion!............................................................................................................................!90! Chapter 4!...............................................................................................................................................!91! Intention, Belief and the Normative Role of Knowledge!........................................................!91! 4. Introduction!................................................................................................................................!91! 4.1 Two Types of Cognitivist Theory!..................................................................................!92! 4.2 The Fundamental Norm of Belief!.................................................................................!93! 4.3 Williamson’s Argument for the Knowledge View!.....................................................!97! 4.4 Further Arguments for the Knowledge View!...........................................................!103! ! 4! 4.5 Objections to Weak and Strong Cognitivism!...........................................................!105! 4.6 Potential Replies to the Objections!.............................................................................!109! 4.7 Conclusion!..........................................................................................................................!117! Chapter 5!.............................................................................................................................................!118! Intentional Action and Causal Deviance!....................................................................................!118! 5. Introduction!..............................................................................................................................!118! 5.1 Bishop and the Problem of Causal Deviance!...........................................................!122! 5.2 Hyman’s Solution to the Problem of Causal Deviance!..........................................!135! 5.3 Are Dispositions Causally Relevant?!...........................................................................!145! 5.4 Two Further Objections to the Causal Theory!........................................................!155! 5.5 Conclusion!..........................................................................................................................!158! Acknowledgements!...........................................................................................................................!159! Bibliography!........................................................................................................................................!160! ! 5! Introduction Imagine you face the following choice: either spending the evening at a party you have been invited to, or going to the library and continuing with the paper you have been working on. You have been working hard recently and have a strong desire to go to the party. On the other hand, you have an important deadline coming up and need to make progress with the paper. Whichever way you decide, once the decision is made you will enter into new kind of state, adopting a particular kind of attitude towards your own future. This is the state of intention. What is the nature of this state? The thesis to be defended over the following five chapters is that intention is a primitive and irreducible mental state, which is non-analyzable in terms of any other, supposedly more basic, folk- psychological states or attitudes, or combination thereof, such as desire and belief. Though my aim is to defend the irreducibility of intention, I do not adopt a position of quietism about intention. I do believe that there are interesting things to be said about what intentions are. In this respect, there is a parallel with certain claims that Timothy Williamson (2000) makes about the nature of knowledge. According to Williamson, knowledge is a basic mental state, rather than something to be analyzed in terms of belief, truth and certain other conditions. However, for Williamson, this does not mean that there is nothing interesting to say about knowledge, or
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