Can I read Teleological Realism: Mind, Agency, and Explanation (A Bradford Book) on EtoBox?

Teleological Realism: Mind, Agency, and Explanation (A Bradford Book) by Scott Robert Sehon is a philosophy book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Teleological Realism: Mind, Agency, and Explanation (A Bradford Book) about?

A non-reductionist account of mind and agency claiming that common-sense psychological explanations are teleological and not causal. Using the language of common-sense psychology (CSP), we explain human behavior by citing its reason or purpose, and this is central to our understanding of human beings as agents. On the other hand, since human beings are physical objects, human behavior should also be explicable in the language of physical science, in which causal accounts cast human beings as collections of physical particles. CSP talk of mind and agency, however, does not seem to mesh well with the language of physical science. In Teleological Realism, Scott Sehon argues that CSP explanations are not causal but teleological-that they cite the purpose or goal of the behavior in question rather than an antecedent state that caused the behavior. CSP explanations of behavior, Sehon claims, are answering a question different from that answered by physical science explanations, and, accordingly, CSP explanations and physical science explanations are independent of one another. Common-sense facts about mind and agency can thus be independent of the physical facts about human beings, and,

Who reads Teleological Realism: Mind, Agency, and Explanation (A Bradford Book)?

Author

Scott Robert Sehon

Publisher

The MIT Press

Published

2005

Language

EN

ISBN

9780262195355

Category

philosophy

Subjects

Philosophy, Psychology, Humanities

Rating

2.7 / 5 (2 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14