Abstract

What is the correct logical analysis of "S did A with the intention I"? The answer and central thesis of Aune’s Reason and Action, begins: "We do A with the intention i just when we do A and the fact that we do A is psychologically explainable by the fact that we have the intention i." The book can be seen as an elaboration of and commentary on this notion of psychological explanation. Briefly, psychological explanation is causal explanation; the intention causally explains S’s doing A, but it explains psychologically, in the required sense, only if it is connected to his doing A through his practical reasoning.