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... In this essay, however, I once more try the positive assumption, that the question is a good one, that there is a fairly definite subclass of events which are actions. The costs of the assumption are the usual ones: oversimplification, the setting aside of large classes of exceptions, the neglect of distinctions hinted by grammar and common sense, recourse to disguised linguistic legislation. With luck we learn something from such methods. There may, after all, be important and general truths in this area, and if there are how else will we discover them?
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Donald Davidson (Essays on Actions and Events (Philosophical Essays of Donald Davidson) (The Philosophical Essays of Donald Davidson (5 Volumes)))