The Paradoxes of Action

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-10

   PDF

2. Preliminaries

   • Daniel González Lagier

   Pages 11-16

3. Our Intuitions and the Paradoxes of Action

   • Daniel González Lagier

   Pages 17-22

4. The Debate in the Philosophy of Action

   • Daniel González Lagier

   Pages 23-37

5. The Debate in Criminal Law

   • Daniel González Lagier

   Pages 39-54

6. The Debate in the Philosophy of Language

   • Daniel González Lagier

   Pages 55-78

7. The Paradoxes Dissolved

   • Daniel González Lagier

   Pages 79-90

8. The Structure of Action

   • Daniel González Lagier

   Pages 91-114

9. Other Kinds of Actions

   • Daniel González Lagier

   Pages 115-122

10. Epilogue

    • Daniel González Lagier

    Pages 123-126

11. Back Matter

    Pages 127-139

    PDF

Through the combined effects of certain natural facts (connected with the passage of time), institutional acts (performed at various points within the university system) and bonds offriendship (forged over quite a number ofyears ofacademic life), I have lately become an occasional writer of forewords. It is certainly not a kind of work that dis­ pleases me; but it would be too much to say that I have learned to do it with ease. Quite to the contrary! Writing a foreword is, it seems to me, an example ofa rather complex action (al­ though, of course, much less complex than writing the book it accompanies). Infact, it is not even an action; it is rather an activity, carried out over a more or less prolonged period of time and typically including something like the following stages: deciding to write the foreword; carefully reading the book; taking notes; thinking about what would be appropriate aspects to be mentioned; sketching an outline; writing a first draft by hand; writing several corrected versions; typing the last ofthem into the computer; dis­ tributing it to several colleagues to see how they like it; correcting the text once more; sending it to the author of the book; delivering it to the publisher. Ineach of these ac­ tions (leaving aside for a moment purely mental actions such as thinking) we can in turn distinguish several components. These are, basically: bodily movements, intentions, and (intentionally or unintentionally produced) changes in the world.

• H.L.A. Hart
• ethics
• freedom
• interpret
• issue
• philosophy
• will

From the reviews:

"Lagier, a Professor of Legal Theory, has a quite different perspective on action to that found in occupational science … . the view of actions presented in this text is that they are sustained performances. … the issues raised in the discussion are eminently relevant to occupational science. … I recommend Lagier’s text to occupational science scholars and researchers … ." (Dr. Clare Hocking, Journal of Occupational Science, Vol. 12 (3), October, 2005)

• University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain

  Daniel González Lagier

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