PHIL 373 Lecture 20: Freedom and Action

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 373
• Professor: Paul Fairfield

Document Summary

To act is to modify the shape of the world, act in the pursuit of the end. To act is to produce a change in the world. And action is defined by its intention. All of human life has an intentional structure. That does(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:373)ea(cid:374) e(cid:448)er(cid:455)thi(cid:374)g (cid:449)e do is (cid:271)(cid:455) i(cid:374)te(cid:374)tio(cid:374) I s(cid:373)oke (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause of (cid:374)eglige(cid:374)(cid:272)e, a lot of our a(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s are like this, (cid:449)e do(cid:374)(cid:859)t thi(cid:374)k about it we just do it. An act that is truly thoughtless, is passively allowing something to happen. An action responds to a kind of lack/absence/nullity, something is missing and (cid:374)eeds to (cid:271)e do(cid:374)e, i do(cid:374)(cid:859)t ha(cid:448)e this so i (cid:374)eed to a(cid:272)t. An action is a project to try to remedy the situation. No situation/factual state is capable of causing me to act. The indispensible fundamental commission of all action is the freedom of the acting being. If there is (cid:374)o freedo(cid:373), it(cid:859)s (cid:374)ot e(cid:448)e(cid:374) a(cid:374) a(cid:272)tio(cid:374)