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Decision-making is a fundamental cognitive process that involves evaluating alternatives and selecting among them. This process can range from simple choices, such as deciding what to wear, to complex decisions, like choosing a major in college or a career path. The complexity of the decision often dictates the approach we use, which can be broadly categorized into two types: automatic and controlled decision-making.
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Deciding as Intentional Action: Control over Decisions.

Joshua Shepherd1

  • 1University of Oxford.

Australasian Journal of Philosophy
|September 1, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study addresses how agents control decisions, challenging the view that decisions are solely intentional actions. It proposes that attention during skilled deliberation enables agents to exercise control over their decisions.

Keywords:
controldecidingmental actionpractical deliberationskill

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Area of Science:

  • Philosophy of Action
  • Cognitive Science

Background:

  • Common-sense folk psychology and philosophy of action posit decisions are intentional actions under agent control.
  • A key challenge arises from the open-ended nature of motivational attitudes driving decisions, questioning direct agent control at the moment of decision.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present a problem for the traditional view of decisions as intentional actions.
  • To offer an account of how agents exercise control over decisions.
  • To explore the relationship between practical deliberation, skilled activity, and attention in decision-making.

Main Methods:

  • Philosophical analysis of decision-making and agency.
  • Examination of the role of deliberation and attention in mental actions.
  • Conceptual exploration of the actional vs. non-actional views of deciding.

Main Results:

  • The content of motivational attitudes remains open-ended until the moment of decision, complicating the notion of direct control.
  • A non-actional view of deciding as passive intention acquisition is considered.
  • An account is provided where agents exercise control through skilled deliberative activity and attention.

Conclusions:

  • Decisions can be understood as mental actions where agents exercise control.
  • Skilled deliberative activity and the role of attention are crucial for understanding agent control in decision-making.
  • This work supports an actional view of deciding by explaining how control is exercised.