A Study Of Anscombe’s Intention Theory

Anscombe’s views on the philosophy of action,especially the theory of "intention",are concentrated in the pamphlet "intention",which shows his unique understanding of "intention" and the philosophy of action.In Anscombe’s view,it is through the interpretation of "intention" that we can correctly describe human actions in various human activities.Following the logic and context of intention itself,and adopting the method and strategy of language analysis,this paper expounds the theory of intention in three parts: intention expression,intentional action and practical knowledge.These three parts are interrelated and inseparable,and together constitute the main content of Anscombe’s "intention" theory.First,by elaborating and investigating the expression of intention,on the one hand,Anscombe criticizes the Cartesian way of thinking which has been prevailing and "floating" in the philosophy of action since modern philosophy,separates "intention" from the things inside the mind and reinterprets it.In action,"intention" is not regarded as a psychological state,but put in the action structure and reason space,thus giving "intention" a new way of understanding and dimension.Others,the refutation of "the natural expression of intention" points to the language centered expression of intention,which means that expressing "intention" with language can break the private things brought by the first person characteristics of actors in action.Through the question of "why",the subject and object,self and others,mind and physics are connected.Therefore,based on the expression of "language" is the right direction to explore "intention".The question of "why" is of great significance in intention.In Anscombe’s view,it is the appearance of the question of "why" that can describe human activities as human actions,and "intentional actions" come from it.Anscombe thinks that the investigation of "intentional action" should have a higher priority."Intentional action" is the most basic category in his philosophy of action.It appears as an "indecomposable natural class",which connects psychology and physics,and can not be described separately for "intentional action".It can be said that this concept is to understand The core of Anscombe’s "intention" theory.It is necessary to introduce non observational self-knowledge into the description of "intentional action".This kind of knowledge shows that actors can always grasp their body posture without observing.It is this kind of knowledge that highlights the practicality of "intentional action".Anscombe found that "intentional action" has structural similarity with practical reasoning,and the description of human action is always a description of the executed intention,which is actually the expression of practical knowledge.Here,combined with "intentional action" and the investigation of practical reasoning,Anscombe reveals the internal order of practical knowledge.It can be said that the exploration of Anscombe’s "intention" theory shows us a picture of action in which body and mind blend,so that we can always stand on the level of events and reasons to understand action,so as to obtain a reasonable explanation and explanation of action.