Abstract

People walk, build, paint and otherwise act together with a purpose in myriad ways. What is the relation between the actions people perform in acting together with a purpose and the outcome, or outcomes, to which their actions are directed? We argue that fully characterising this relation will require appeal not only to intention, knowledge and other familiar philosophical paraphernalia but also to another kind of representation involved in preparing and executing actions, namely motor representation. If we are right, motor representation plays a central role in the story of acting together.

Highlights

  • People walk, build, paint and otherwise act together with a purpose in myriad ways

  • What is the relation between the actions people perform in acting together with a purpose and the outcome, or outcomes, to which their actions are directed? We argue that fully characterising this relation will require appeal to intention, knowledge and other familiar philosophical paraphernalia and to another kind of representation involved in preparing and executing actions, namely motor representation

  • When people act together with a purpose, in virtue of what are their actions collectively directed to an outcome? Our answer is that this is sometimes a matter of a certain interagential structure of motor representations being realised and playing a role in coordinating the actions

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Summary

A question about acting together

Our acting together with a purpose requires that there be some sense in which we are acting together, and an outcome to which our actions are directed. This is not quite enough to capture what we want. Consider a contrast involving a long drain which is blocked: CASE 1: Ayesha and Beatrice live at different ends of the drain. By chance, they are simultaneously attempting to unblock it with drain rods. CASE 2: ... is exactly like CASE 1 except that it is not by chance but by agreement that Ayesha and Beatrice are simultaneously attempting to unblock

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Motor representation in acting alone with a purpose
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Motor representation in acting together with a purpose
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Coordination in acting together: a conjecture
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Two objections
How are actions linked to outcomes when acting together?
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Conclusion
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Full Text
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