Causalism

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences | Personality | Philosophy | Social |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |

Philosophy Index: Aesthetics · Epistemology · Ethics · Logic · Metaphysics · Consciousness · Philosophy of Language · Philosophy of Mind · Philosophy of Science · Social and Political philosophy · Philosophies · Philosophers · List of lists

---

Philosophy of mind

Related articles

Biological determinism Biologism Bodymind Consciousness studies Causalism Embodied philosophy Embodiment Mind-body problem Theory of mind

Dualism

Substance dualism Property dualism Interactionism Emergent materialism

Monism

Neutral monism Phenomenalism Epiphenomenalism Identity theory Materialism Eliminative materialism Functionalism Physicalism Behaviourism Biological naturalism|-

Causalism holds behavior and actions to be the result of previous mental states, such as beliefs, desires, or intentions, rather than from a present conscious will guiding one's actions. Causalism is in accord with how most people have traditionally explained their actions, but critics point out that certain habitual actions such as scratching an itch are only noticed during or after the fact, if at all, making the causalist explanation that such behaviors have a mental antecedent that is not recalled seem ad hoc.

References

• Frankfurt, Harry. 1988. "The Problem of Action", in The Importance of What We Care About. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
• Mele, Alfred. 1997. "Introduction", in Philosophy of Action. Oxford: Oxford UP.