Practical Shape: A Theory of Practical Reasoning

It is widely accepted that we can reason to a new belief from beliefs that we already have. Aristotle thought that we could also reason from beliefs to action. Many philosophers have disregarded Aristotle's claim, but Jonathan Dancy aims to establish the possibility of reasoning to action, by showing how similar such reasoning is to reasoning to belief. He offers a general theory of reasoning which is Aristotelian in spirit, and which smoothly admits the differences there may be between reasoning to action and reasoning to belief, while also considering the possibility of reasoning to hope, to fear, to doubt, and to intention.