Agent Causation

Abstract

A person having an intention (in acting) is simply that person intentionally exercising causal power. If the person exercises enough causal power, and the physical circumstances are right, the person will cause the brain event. So persons exercise agent causality. The chapter goes on to argue that when physical events are said to cause events, the same kind of causality is at work; a physical substance itself, not an event involving it, non-intentionally causes an effect. So laws of nature are just generalizations about the causal powers and liabilities of substances.