Agency
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Agency | |
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| Type | Philosophical concept |
| Field | Philosophy of action; Metaphysics; Epistemology |
| Core idea | Capacity of an entity to initiate, control, and be responsible for actions |
| Assumptions | Some entities can act rather than merely undergo events; actions can be attributed to agents |
| Status | Established concept |
| Related | Action; Intention; Responsibility; Free will |
Agency is a philosophical concept referring to the capacity of an entity to initiate and control actions, rather than merely undergo events. An entity with agency is treated as an agent: a source of action whose behavior can be explained in terms of reasons, intentions, or purposes.
Agency is central to the philosophy of action and plays a key role in discussions of responsibility, autonomy, and moral evaluation.
Core idea
At its core, agency involves the ability to make things happen through action. To attribute agency to an entity is to regard it as capable of acting for reasons, forming intentions, and exercising some degree of control over outcomes.
Agency distinguishes agents from objects or systems whose behavior is explained solely in terms of external causes.
Agents and actions
Agency is closely tied to the concept of action. Actions are typically understood as behaviors attributable to agents, while events occur without agency.
Philosophical accounts differ on what conditions must be met for behavior to count as action, and thus for agency to be present.
Control and guidance
Many theories of agency emphasize control or guidance. An agent is said to act when their behavior is guided by intentions, plans, or reasons, even if outcomes are not fully predictable.
This emphasis allows for agency under conditions of uncertainty or partial constraint.
Intention and planning
Agency is often associated with the capacity to form intentions and to organize behavior over time. Planning and deliberation are treated as expressions of agency, enabling agents to coordinate actions toward goals.
Debates arise over whether intention is necessary for agency or whether habitual or automatic actions can also be agentive.
Agency and responsibility
Agency underlies attributions of responsibility. To hold an entity responsible for an action is to assume that the entity exercised agency in performing it.
Questions about diminished capacity, coercion, or impairment often turn on whether agency was present or compromised.
Agency and freedom
Discussions of agency intersect with debates about free will. Some accounts require freedom from certain kinds of constraint for genuine agency, while others allow for agency within deterministic or constrained systems.
These debates concern what kind of control is sufficient for action attribution.
Agency in non-human systems
Philosophers also examine whether non-human entities, such as animals or artificial systems, possess agency. Criteria proposed include responsiveness to reasons, goal-directed behavior, and the capacity for learning or adaptation.
These discussions raise questions about degrees of agency and its attribution across different kinds of systems.
Explanatory role
Agency plays an explanatory role in social and moral contexts. Explaining behavior in terms of agency involves reference to reasons, intentions, and norms, rather than solely to causal mechanisms.
Alternative explanatory frameworks emphasize structural or causal factors and may downplay agency.
Limits and disagreement
There is no single agreed account of agency. Disagreement persists over its necessary conditions, its relation to freedom and responsibility, and its applicability to non-human entities.
These disagreements reflect broader differences about explanation, control, and the nature of action.
Status
Agency is an established but contested concept in philosophy. Its analysis clarifies how actions are attributed to agents and how concepts such as intention, responsibility, and freedom are interconnected.