Research Seminar Spring 2020 (1): Agency

The first meeting of the project research seminar this term (Spring 2020) will take place from 16.00 to 18.00, on Tuesday 14 March, 2020, in the seminar room at the Department of Philosophy, UCL (19 Gordon Square).

For this meeting, we will focus on questions about agency: What is an act? Is an act a bodily movement? Is every act intentional? The target readings are:

• Hyman, John. 2015. Action, Knowledge, and Will. Oxford UP. Ch. 2 “Action and Integration”.
• Frankfurt, Harry G. 1978. “The problem of action.” American Philosophical Quarterly 15. Repr. in The Importance of What We Care About: Philosophical Essays (Cambridge UP, 1998).

John Hyman and Maria Alvarez will introduce the topic.

We suggest the following two pieces as background pieces for the seminar:

• Hyman, John. 2015. Action, Knowledge, and Will. Oxford UP. Ch. 1 “Agency and the Will” & “Appendix: The Modern Theory of the Will.”
• Hart, H. L. A. 2008 (1967). “Postscript: Responsibility and Retribution.” In Punishment and Responsibility (2nd edn.; Oxford UP).

For the schedule for the whole term, see this post.