Rational Animals

"Rational Animals: The Teleological Roots of Intentionality" offers an original account of the intentionality of human mental states, such as beliefs and desires. The account of intentionality in Rational Animals is broadly biological in its basis, emphasizing the continuity between human intentionality and the levels of intentionality that should be attributed to animal actions and states. "Rational Animals" will be of interest to cognitive scientists, philosophers of mind, philosophers of biology, philosophers of action, ethologists, and those interested in the debates concerning animal intelligence.

Mark Okrent is a professor of philosophy at Bates College in Maine. He is the author of Heidegger’s Pragmatism as well as numerous articles on intentionality, teleology, Heidegger, and related topics.

Introduction : ethological anecdotes, philosophical pronouncements	p. 1
What is intentionality?	p. 12
Three central issues concerning intentionality	p. 12
The pragmatic approach to intentionality	p. 17
Representationalism, functionalism, and pragmatism	p. 22
Goals without intentions	p. 28
The field teleologist's problem	p. 28
Goal-directedness : description and explanation	p. 31
Wright's analysis of goals	p. 40
The descriptive content of goal attributions	p. 51
The scope of the judgment of appropriateness	p. 51
Goals as strongly holistic properties	p. 54
Living agents and teleology	p. 60
The explanatory power of goal attributions	p. 75
How goal-directed attributions explain	p. 75
Goals and functions : types and individuals	p. 83
Types and goals : populations and evolution	p. 89
Instrumental rationality	p. 104
The teleological stance and the intentional stance	p. 105
Reasons	p. 108
Nonrational behavior : the lessons of the Sphex wasp	p. 112
Instrumentally rational behavior : the lessons of the plover	p. 118
Goals and reasons	p. 122
The norms of instrumental rationality	p. 127
Rational explanation	p. 134
Justification and explanation	p. 134
Inference and explanation	p. 141
Goals and desires	p. 148
The motivation of rational behavior	p. 153
Rational explanation and intentional content	p. 161
Summary	p. 163
Practical reason and definite content	p. 166
The limitations of merely instrumental reason	p. 166
Opacity and vague contents	p. 168
Reflection and practical rationality	p. 176
The evolution of practical rationality	p. 183
Practical reason and social roles	p. 189
Tools, language, and definite content	p. 196
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