Phenomenological Reviews

Series | Book | Chapter

146906

Abstract

The dominant view holds that actions are essentially brought about by the agent's intentions. Merleau-Ponty offers an alternative account, according to which actions are primarily initiated and guided by the agent's apprehension of her environment. Intentions may still play a role in bringing about action, but they are not essential. In this chapter, I consider two important factors that contribute to our actions: habit and attention. I argue that neither can be satisfactorily accommodated on the dominant model, but Merleau-Ponty's framework provides a nice explanation of them. This gives us some reason to prefer a Merleau-Pontyian account to the dominant view.

Publication details

Published in:

Moran Dermot (2013) The phenomenology of embodied subjectivity. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 3-19

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-01616-0_1

Full citation:

Romdenh-Romluc Komarine (2013) „Habit and attention“, In: D. Moran (ed.), The phenomenology of embodied subjectivity, Dordrecht, Springer, 3–19.