Whatever Happened to Evans' Action Component?. (3rd May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zong, Desheng
• Is Part Of: Philosophy. Volume 92:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 449
• Page End: 470
• Publication Date: 2017-05-03
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; 100
• DOI: 10.1017/S0031819117000171
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-8191

Abstract

Abstract: A long line of writers on Evans – Andy Hamilton, Lucy O'Brien, José Bermúdez, and Jason Stanley, to name just a few – assess Evans' account of first-person thought without heeding his warnings that his theory comprises an information and an action component. By omitting the action component, these critics are able to characterize Evans' theory as a perceptual model theory and reject it on that ground. This paper is an attempt to restore the forgotten element. With this component put back in, the charge of Evans' theory as a perceptual model of such thoughts falls apart, and the theory turns out to have enough merit to project itself as a legitimate contender for a plausible account of 'I'-thought.