Gottlob Frege Lectures 2024: Emma Borg "Reasons For Action"

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The Gottlob Frege Lectures in theoretical philosophy are named in honour of the German mathematician and philosopher Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege. 

Lectures in 2024 are held on November 4-6 by:

EMMA BORG (LONDON):  "REASONS FOR ACTION"

The Lecturer:
Emma Borg is a Professor at the Institute of Philosophy, SAS, University of London. She works mainly in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and business ethics. Borg is the author of "Minimal Semantics" (2004) and "Pursuing Meaning" (2012) as well as two forthcoming books: "A Very Short Introduction to Meaning" and "Acting for Reasons: In Defence of Common-Sense Psychology" (all Oxford University Press). The latter book is also the basis for her Frege lectures.

The Lectures:
Do people generally do what they do for the reasons they have? A standard answer in philosophy – Common-Sense or Folk Psychology – says yes. But recently the idea that people are generally rational, reasons-responsive creatures has come under significant pressure, for a range of empirical findings (often generated within social, comparative, and developmental psychology) seem to show that, on the contrary, people are often reasons-blind, behaving on the basis of gut-feels and intuitions, and subject to numerous biases and other reasoning flaws. However, although this empirical work is now extremely well-known (stretching beyond the ivory tower and into the public consciousness), I suggest that the precise problem for Common-Sense Psychology remains unclear. For there are (at least) three different arguments that the empirical data could be used to support. In these lectures I clarify these three arguments and contend that, for each one, there are responses available to an advocate of the Common-sense view. My conclusion will be that the case against Common-Sense Psychology can be rejected and that we should retain the idea that (typical adult human) action involves acting for reasons.

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In preparation for E. Borg lectures, we will hold a seminar (in English) on 21 October to discuss two of Emma Borg’s relevant papers. Everyone is welcome to participate in the seminar. Students can also earn 3 ECTS by registering for the course “Frege Lectures” (FLFI.04.101), registration is now open in SIS.

The required reading for the preparatory seminar is:

• Borg, Emma (2022). In Defence of Individual Rationality. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 122(3): 195-217.
• Borg, Emma (2018). On Deflationary Accounts of Human Action Understanding. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 9: 503-522.

The seminar will take place on 21 October, from 12:00 to 16:00, in Jakobi 2-336.

Read further about the Gottlob Frege Lectures in theoretical philosophy.