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Chapter 8 - Expert Activity and the Metaphysics of Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2025

Tyler Huismann
Tyler Huismann
Affiliation:
University of Oklahoma
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Summary

I begin by considering a condition Aristotle sets on action individuation: A difference in final cause entails a difference in actions. Next, I turn to Aristotle’s account of the teleological structure of expert activity. This kind of activity mirrors the classic case of Anscombe’s poisoner. But for Aristotle, the final causes in expert activity very finely, with the result that final causation is not transitive. So it turns out that Anscombe and Aristotle disagree about one of the most basic tenets of action theory: Anscombe individuates actions coarsely, Aristotle finely. In this regard, Aristotle is not her friend.

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Aristotle on Accidental Causation , pp. 196 - 226
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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