Publication Details

Abstract

Various aspects of activity are the object of examination not only of social or biological-medical sciences but also are the subject-matter of investigation in cybernetics, robotics and in artificial intelligence. The particular theories of activity may be divided into empirical, rationalist and normative ones according to their character and substance. In view of the interdisciplinary character of the problems of activity the question of possibilities and of competence of philosophical analysis comes up. Putting emphasis on the theoretical-methodological function of philosophy, the author considers the examination of those notions which reflect the dialectics of activity to be one of the tasks of philosophy.

Laying stress on the sciences on Man, society and culture the author specifies substantial elements in the paper which are the subject-matter of the description and explanation of these disciplines. They are the following ones: the agent of the activity, the type of activity, modalities of activity, the context, reasons and causes of activity.

The point in question lies in the distinction between activity and human action, in the characteristic of human action as a specific human activity and in the specification of its notion. The author’s approach is motivated by the effort to define the necessary and satisfactory conditions of action. In this connection she explains the notions such as the responsibility, decision, the direct or mediated agent of activity. In the end she refers to the question of a simple action and outlines a typology of a complex action. The mentioned reflections are also confronted with the representationist conceptions of activity.