Absence of action

Authors: Randolph Clarke

Publish Date: 2012/03/03

Volume: 158, Issue: 2, Pages: 361-376

PDF Link

Abstract

When I raise my arm my raising my arm is an event When I stop at the store and buy milk my doing so is a process When I omit to raise my arm or to stop and buy milk what if anything is my not doing these things What in general are omissions to actSometimes when someone refrains from doing a certain thing the agent performs an action of preventing himself from so acting A policeman might hold his arm at his side to keep from shooting a fleeing suspect1 But in many cases of omission there’s no such action When I forget to stop and buy milk my omission seems to be in the first place an absence the absence of an action by me of buying milk2 But what is an absence of an actionMany things are absent from the world—many objects unicorns many states perfect virtue and many events a World Series triumph by the Cubs in the last hundred years If these things existed they would be entities of various sorts Are the absences of these things beings of some kind If

Keywords: