A Problem for Causal Theories of Action1

Abstract: Philosophical accounts of “action” standardly take an action to be a doing which satisfies some description that is semantically related to the content of a propositional attitude of the subject's which explains why that doing occurred. Causal theories of action require that the explanation in question must involve the causation of action‐doings by propositional attitudes (typically intentions, volitions, or combinations of belief and desire). I argue that there are actions whose status as such cannot be acknowledged by any causal theory, since no such theory can allow that they fulfill the satisfaction condition.