Belief and Agency

Published 2 December 2011
Aristotle famously said that humans are rational animals and distinguished two forms or kinds of human rationality. Practical rationality strives to answer questions about how to live and about what sort of person one should be. It deals with human action and the will. Theoretical rationality strives to answer questions about the nature of our world and our place in it. It deals with human knowledge and understanding. Philosophical work on rationality attempts to understand the similarities, differences, and relations between these forms of reasoning. In this valuable collection, eleven distinguished scholars explore philosophical conceptions of the relation between belief, on the one hand, and intention and action, on the other.