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Explaining behavior: reasons in a world of causes
Abstract
Why do human beings move? In this lucid portrayal of human behavior, Fred Dretske provides an original account of the way reasons function in the causal explanation of behavior. Biological science investigates what makes our bodies move in the way they do. Psychology is interested in why persons -- agents with reasons -- move in the way they do. Dretske attempts to reconcile these different points of view by showing how reasons operate in a world of causes. He reveals in detail how the character of our inner states -- what we believe, desire, and intend -- determines what we do.
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Citations
Cited by
Being there: putting brain, body, and world together again
(1997) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.34-6204 · Cited by 2,631
A theory of implicit and explicit knowledge
Dienes, Z., & Perner, J. (1999) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x99002186 · Cited by 672
How People Explain Behavior: A New Theoretical Framework
Malle, B. F. (1999) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0301_2 · Cited by 538
Intentional relations and social understanding
Barresi, J., & Moore, C. (1996) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00041790 · Cited by 523
Précis of The Intentional Stance
Dennett, D. C. (1988) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00058611 · Cited by 398
Metadata
- Venue
- Choice Reviews Online
- Publisher
- American Library Association
- Published
- 1988-10-01
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 02
- Pages
- 26-0865-26-0865
- ISSN
- 0009-4978 (ISSN-L)
- 1523-8253
- OpenAlex
- W2070670673
- Cited by
- 1,189
- References
- 0
- Type
- book review
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Explaining behavior: reasons in a world of causes. (1988). Choice Reviews Online. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.26-0865
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
