ABSTRACT
The explanation of human action is both an everyday task and an occasion for the most perplexing of methodological dilemmas. On the one hand, we unrefl ectively ask for, offer up, and receive action explanations as a matter of daily routine: we need to know why someone acts as he does in order to deal with him at all, and do so in everyday contexts without necessarily being stymied into paralysis. On the other hand, when we pause to refl ect on the philosophical presuppositions of action explanations, we’re quickly led to questions of suffi cient complexity to keep philosophers occupied for generations.
