ABSTRACT
Social science begins with the aim of explaining human action—not mere behavior. In fact, some social scientists, like historians, explain human actions without any explicit theory at all. Some social scientists, especially psychologists, have been unhappy with a hard-and-fast distinction between action and behavior. The difference between reasons and causes is crucial, and every account of the explanation of human action must face it. Naturalists hold that if we can identify the link between beliefs and desires on the one hand and action on the other, then we will be able to improve on folk psychology's explanations of human action. The naturalistic approach to the relation between folk psychology and a science of human action has long been associated with the views of Max Weber. Long before the self-conscious attempts of the social scientist, common sense had provided us all with a theory about the behavior of our fellow human beings.
