Intention

A short, dense monograph in fifty-two numbered sections, often said to have founded modern philosophy of action. Anscombe asks what distinguishes intentional actions from other things we do or undergo. Her answer is that they are the actions to which a certain sense of the question "Why?" applies, a question answered by giving a reason, not a cause or a mere report. She shows that one and the same action can be intentional under one description and not under another, and works through the example of a man pumping water into a house whose supply he knows has been poisoned, asking what exactly he is doing. A central theme is practical knowledge: an agent knows what he is doing without observation. Anscombe contrasts the shopping list of a man in a shop with the record kept by a detective following him: when they disagree, the mistake lies in the list in one case and in the record in the other. She also reworks Aristotle's practical syllogism.

Almost all later work on action, intention and practical reason responds to it, and it shows how careful attention to ordinary questions can open a whole field.