ABSTRACT
There are three main theories about how actions differ from one another: a fine-grained theory, a coarse-grained theory, and a componential theory. Owing partly to the close connection in ordinary thought and language between intentions and actions, intentions have received a lot of attention not only in the philosophy of action but also in work on action in neuroscience, psychology, and legal theory. An important motivational difference between desires and intentions may lie in their access to the mechanisms of intentional action. An intention-embedded plan identifies a goal and provides action-directions, as it were. A variety of options are open, and any viable solution to the mind-body problem that supports the idea that mental terms can legitimately be used in causal explanations of actions can, in principle, be welcomed by many proponents of the view. An influential series of experiments by Libet has suggested that conscious intentions arise as a result of brain activity.
