The individuation of actions

Abstract

There are three passages, the first in 'A Plea for Excuses~ the second in How to Do Things with Words, and the third in 'Three Ways of Spilling Ink', which have obvious affinities of content and purpose and which I would like to consider together. In them Austin raises the important philosophical problem of the individuation of actions. The passages themselves, however, while containing useful hints as to what Austin's intuitions were about the subject, do not provide any definite, well worked out solution. It is important, therefore, to try to understand the nature of the problem raised by Austin and to examine critically the various solutions which have been suggested.