Academic Philosophy Events in the Netherlands
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ULTIMA Talk by Dr. Lieke Asma (Munich School of Philosophy)
10 November 2022 @ 15:30 - 17:00
The next ULTIMA talk (https://selfcontrol.sites.uu.nl/ultima-talks/) will be delivered by Dr. Lieke Asma (Munich School of Philosophy). The details are below:
When: November 10th 2022 – 15.30 to 17.00 [CET]
Where: Janskerkhof 13 (Room 0.06), Utrecht [Attendance is free but space is limited. Please, to attend send an e-mail to m.segundoortin@uu.nl]
*Online: This is a hybrid event. To attend online, please send an e-mail to m.segundoortin@uu.nl
Title: What happens when we act for an unconscious reason?
Abstract:
Science and common sense suggest that we sometimes act for unconscious reasons. Psychological research has shown that we are not always conscious of why we do what we do, and we often encounter agents (fictional or real) that seem to act for a certain reason – jealousy, to be liked – without realizing it. But what are unconscious reasons exactly? Are they best understood, as they often are, as unconscious psychological states that causally explain and, at least potentially, justify our actions? In this talk, my first aim is to argue against this view: it suffers from causal deviance and is circular. After that, I propose, in line with Anscombe (1963) and Thompson (2008), to understand reasons as actions at a higher level of description. Even though Anscombe (1963) maintains that we have non-observational knowledge of our actions and reasons, which would suggest that we cannot be unconscious of the reasons for which we act, I explain how, within this framework, we can make room for unconscious reasons. This picture of acting for unconscious reasons has two implications: (1) claiming that an agent is acting for an unconscious reason is a matter of interpretation and ascription, and (2) acting for an unconscious reason would be less rational than acting for a conscious reason.
About the OZSW event calendar
The OZSW event calendar lists academic philosophy events organized by/at Dutch universities, and is offered by the OZSW as a service to the research community. Please check the event in question – through their website or organizer – to find out if you could participate and whether registration is required. Obviously we carry no responsibility for non-OZSW events.