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This is the first collection of essays devoted to the thought of Anselm W. Mller. It brings to the attention of the English-speaking world an influential and highly regarded philosopher who has made important contributions to a wide range of philosophical debates. Arguably, Mller's most important contributions are to the philosophy of action and virtue ethics. The contributors, who include friends, colleagues, and former students, engage with different aspects of Mller's thought in these areas. Subjects include his interpretation of Aristotle and Wittgenstein, the teleology of thought and action, the Aristotelian distinction between poiesis and praxis and its application to ethical upbringing, and the possibility of practical knowledge and practical truth. Teleological Structures in Human Life will be of interest to researches and advanced students working on virtue ethics, philosophy of action, and practical reasoning.

AbstractIn recent years several philosophers have proposed what has come to be called the Reasoning View of normative reasons, according to which normative reasons are premises of sound reasoning. The reasoning view has come under some criticism, which chiefly consists in counterexamples that purport to show that something can be a premise of sound reasoning without intuitively being a normative reason, or can be a normative reason without being a premise of sound reasoning. I here consider and reject three examples that were recently put forward. Discussing them will allow me to clarify the Reasoning View in important respects.

Abstract
I argue for the claim that for Aristotle, the content of productive understanding primarily concerns the nature of the object a craftsperson aims to bring into existence as well as its material requirements, and only derivatively things she might do with a view to producing that object. I explain why technê is a form of understanding, by considering what it shares with and how it differs from its practical and theoretical cousins. I give four arguments for my claim. The analogy of craft and nature suggests that a craftsperson understands the nature of their product and the material necessities required by the product's existence. Further evidence comes from some of Aristotle's remarks on the practical syllogism, from considerations concerning capacities for change in general, and from his views on why it is a two-way capacity. I end by mentioning several respects in which technê goes beyond productive understanding.

Die antike Philosophie bietet eine differenzierte Diskussion zu akteurs- und handlungstheoretischen Fragen. Die deutschen und englischen Beiträge des Bandes geben einen Einblick in die Reichhaltigkeit dieser Diskussion vom 5. Jahrhundert vor unserer Zeit bis zur Spätantike mit einem Schwerpunkt auf Aristoteles. Diskutiert werden zum einen Fragen zu den rationalen und arationalen seelischen Faktoren, die antiken Philosophen zufolge dem Handeln zugrunde liegen. Diskutiert werden zum anderen Fragen zum Verhältnis von Handelnden, Handlungen und Handlungszielen. Zwei antike Überlegungen werden hier besonders in den Blick genommen: Handlungen sind Ausdruck dessen, was sich den Handelnden in ihrer seelischen Verfasstheit als zu erstrebendes Gut darstellt. Zugleich gibt es objektive Maßstäbe für das Gut-Sein des Ziels und die Angemessenheit der Mittel, die es für ethisch richtiges Handeln auch angesichts von Unwägbarkeiten der Handlungsumstände richtig zu erfassen gilt. Diskutiert werden schließlich Fragen zur handlungsrelevanten Rationalität und zum Handeln in der Gemeinschaft. Die Band leistet einen Beitrag zur anhaltenden Forschungsdiskussion zu handlungs- und akteurstheoretischen Fragen in der antiken Philosophie.