The Identities of Action : How the Normative Valence of Consequences Matters for Act Evaluation
Overview
Individuating action depends upon how people comprehend value judgements about the consequences of an action to distinguish-or not to distinguish-between them.
The question "what is action?" cannot be fully addressed until it is established whether two action descriptions-whether in law, business, insurance policies, or ordinary conversation-refer to the same or different actions. This book approaches the problem of action individuation by arguing for a variantist account, where the moral valence of the consequences of an action plays a foundational role in distinguishing between actions. Actions with bad consequences are associated with the originating act from which the action arises; actions with positive consequences are separate from their originating act. When we consider whether a bad or good consequence is identical to an originating action, the normative valence of the consequences of the action matter. Drawing from an empirical assessment that tests non-philosophers' intuitions about individuating actions, along with real-world examples, Joseph Ulatowski explores the practical and philosophical significance of how we distinguish between actions.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781666955033
- ISBN-10: 1666955035
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Publish Date: March 2026
- Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.56 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.05 pounds
- Page Count: 232
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