Abstract

According to Donald Davidson’s causal theory of actions, an action is an event that an agent performs for reasons, and thus explanation by appeal to the agent’s reasons is a rational explanation as well as a causal explanation. Against Davidson’s theory there have been raised a number of objections, one of which is called “normativity”. The roots of this objection are that, on one hand, causal account is relative to things existing outside the mind but, on the other hand, normative things are things existing in the realm of mind; therefore we can not use causal explanation to mental things. The present article first refers the basic concepts of Davidson’s theory; then, it accounts his theory of action; and finally it deals in detail with the objection “normativity”.