Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book takes up the theme of agency from the phenomenological tradition, looking especially at the way that time structures agency in ways other than purposive, deliberate action. B. Scot Rousse and David Ciavatta examine how time shapes agency at scales both larger and smaller than at the level of individual actions. Velleman reviews a long line of work in philosophy of action that assumes-mostly implicitly-that practical reasoning always precedes action and takes time in the sense that it consists of occurrent thoughts that the agent consciously entertains. Since rational actions seem to require deliberation, we might wonder whether the deliberation must occur just prior to intention, or even follow upon the action. A further benefit of adopting an Aristotelian theory of change is that it makes clear how human agency is well integrated with change throughout nature.