Abstract

Taking into account linguistic peculiarities of cause and effect language, this model also reflects the functions of tense and aspect and the roles that perception and conception play in individuating entities. Based on the difference drawn by McCann between temporally persistent and temporally extended events, the proposed theory points up Goldman's and Davidson's views as complementary, not contradictory, and facilitates the dissolution of some thorny problems in action theory. ;It is proposed that, upon analysis of the multiplier/unifier controversy, it is evident that both parties have conflated the terms 'act' and 'action,' and this leads to paradoxical results within each proponent's view. It is argued that the basis for an act/action distinction may be found in linguistic studies carried out by Zeno Vendler, Hugh McCann, Robert Ware, and Michael Bennett. Their work yields comparable distinctions between activities and performances, and between two concepts of events. These linguistic findings are brought to bear on the individuation impasse, which is detailed with special attention to Goldman's and Davidson's theories, and a new model for understanding acts and actions is sketched. ;Issues concerning the nature of human action arise at three levels of concern, viz., everyday-life, scientific, and philosophical. Primary among these issues are problems of individuating and describing acts and actions. Recent literature on the nature of human action has expanded to treat these problems. The trend has been to see the individuation question as an either/or situation, i.e., in a given instance, either several descriptions refer to several distinct acts or actions, or they refer to one and the same act or action. Those subscribing to the former view are "multipliers," among them Alvin Goldman; those advocating the latter are "unifiers," foremost among whom is Donald Davidson