Abstract

What is it for me to do something is the question discussed in the present paper. It has been suggested that my doings are elicited by tryings, intentions, and other causal mechanisms. These theories do not offer any convincing analysis of what it is for me to act. Insight is sought by looking at some case studies involving temporary loss of the ability to move oneís body. What the case studies show, I conclude, is that when I move my body in the normal way, I do not first have to do something else that causes my body to move. Normal actions are events bodily beings can generate spontaneously . An essential condition for having this kind of control is inside awareness of the body. When inner awareness of the body is lost, control can be taken over by visual awareness. But then movement loses its spontaneous character and depends on planning and intense concentration. One can think of the self from which my actions flow, as the mental life to which they belong, or as the consciousness that controls them