Some of the best, most surprising, and most intellectually interesting thoughts appear spontaneously in our minds. Drawing upon research from cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophy of action, Francesca Secco argues in the several papers that constitute her thesis that individuals are in charge of their own mental lives even when thoughts and ideas pop into their minds spontaneously.
The main contribution of Secco’s thesis is agential pluralism, a pluralistic approach to agency according to which actions cannot be reduced just to what people do according to their intentions or desires. This proposal not only allows Secco to account for spontaneous mental processes, but also constitutes a novel alternative to the widespread idea in the philosophy of action that what we actively do is what we do intentionally, while everything else is something that passively happens to us.
Creative thinking is one mental process that the proposal advanced by Secco can better account for. This is the process involved when our train of thought leads to new and unexpected ideas. Even though creative thinking typically doesn’t respond to the agent’s desires and intentions, Secco claims that new ideas are not due to randomness. Through the influence of previous experiences, knowledge, and understanding, a person can actively contribute to the ideas that pop into their mind. On this ground, Secco claims that an individual can reasonably be praised for their own ideas.
Francesca Secco successfully defended her dissertation on 1 June 2023.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: "What is intentional action?"
Evaluation committee
Associate Professor Wayne Wu, Carnegie Mellon University (first opponent)
Assistant Professor Antonia Peacocke, Stanford University (second opponent)
Senior Lecturer Joanna Pollock, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
Senior Lecturer Eirik Welo
Supervisors
Professor Sebastian Watzl, University of Oslo