ABSTRACT
The author argued that the causal model of explanation employed in the natural sciences will not fit the very simple instance in which the motive a person has for raising his arm namely, in order to indicate that he is about to make a turn, explains that action. One needs to look more closely at a number of concepts which are closely related to those of motive and action, and which seem on the face of the matter to lend themselves to the Humean model of explanation. The concept of desire plays a crucial role in many discussions in philosophical psychology, in moral philosophy and in so-called value theory. Paradoxically, however, it remains a much neglected topic of inquiry. It would be impossible in this inquiry to examine needs or the so-called unconscious desires. The familiar view is, in Hume's terminology, that a desire is an impression of reflection, an internal mental occurrence.
