Title: Mindlessness /
Authors: Di Nucci, Ezio
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars,
Year: 2013
Subjects: Thought and thinking Philosophy.; Philosophy of mind; Automatism psychology; Thinking; Theory of Mind
Abstract: Thinking is overrated: firefighters make the right calls without a clue as to why; and you are ill advised to look at your steps as you go down the stairs. Just do it, mindlessly. Both psychologists and the common man have long worked out that thinking is often a bad idea, but philosophers still hang on to an intellectualist picture of human action. This book challenges that picture and calls on philosophers to wake up to the power of mindlessness.
Contents: Pt. I. Automaticity. Habits, priming, aliefs and the explanation of action -- Automaticity in action -- Actions and causes -- pt. II. Action without intention. Intention and the simple view -- Intention and rational constraints -- Intention, double effect and the trolley problem -- pt. III. Freedom in action. Freedom and non-causalist action theory -- Priming and freedom -- Conclusion.