ABSTRACT
What is the role of the body in bodily action? I consider two pictures of the body in bodily action. On the standard causal theory of action, the body is merely an enabling condition for bodily action. That is, the body doesn’t enter into the nature of what makes bodily action agentive. On an alternative picture, the body is partly constitutive of what makes bodily action the kind of action it is. Having the kind of body we have and sensing and acting with this body structure the character of our bodily agency. Through examining cases of pathologies of embodiment, I argue against the first picture of body as an enabling condition and for the second picture of agency as embodied. Following this, I address the question of how embodied agency is possible. In answer, I consider three factors in how the body structures agency: (i) the body as the effector – which one directly acts with, (ii) bodily awareness, and (iii) a sense of body ownership.
