ABSTRACT
When we deliberate about actions to be taken in the future, we normally take stock of the reasons we have for embarking on one or the other of the alternative courses of action open to us, if only in a rather rough and ready way. Occasionally, however, it may be the case that, as soon as we reach a conclusion by forming an intention, the intention itself has effects of its own, positive or negative, on the achievement of our ends, even before, or at least irrespective of, whether we act on our intention or not. In recent years a growing number of philosophers have suggested that, in deliberating, a rational person should take these autonomous effects3 of forming an intention into account.4
