A Study of the Complex and Disputed Philosophical Questions Surrounding Human Action (Problems in Contemporary Philosophy)

Attempting to revive a view of mind and action that has been out of fashion for so many decades many have declared it dead, Shaw (philosophy, U. of Aberdeen, Scotland) proposes a philosophical account of what it is to perform a motivated action. He offers three justifications for his endeavor: inherent interest, to shed light on the scientific study of human behavior, and to contribute in a fundamental way to ethics. He finds other contemporary philosophical accounts of mind and action, however elegant, to be inconsistent with what he calls the data of everyday experience. The text is double spaced. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)