Why Are You Doing That?

G. E. M. Anscombe asked what makes an act intentional. Her answer: an act is intentional under a description if the question “Why?” has application to it, meaning the doer can give a reason. A person who is moving an arm up and down, pumping water, filling a tank and poisoning the household is doing one thing under four descriptions.

That matters because blame often depends on the description. A man may intend to pump water and not intend to poison the people who drink it, if he does not know that the water is tainted.

The question “Why are you doing that?” is therefore a test of what a person is really up to, and of where the responsibility lies.

The water pump

A caretaker pumps water into the village tank each morning. One day an inspector asks, “Why are you doing that?” He answers, “To fill the tank.” Asked why again, he says, “So the village has water.”

The inspector then tells him the well has been contaminated. Asked once more whether he intends to poison people, the caretaker says no, and now stops pumping. The same motion had a new description once he knew.

Try this today Pick one thing you did today and give three descriptions of it, from the plainest to the most purposeful.