Between Hume and Aristotle: Historical Perspectives on Davidson’s Belief-Desire Model

The paper provides a historical-critical analysis of the belief-desire model (or desire-belief model), the standard framework for the genesis and causal explanation of human action in analytic philosophy. Formulated in the early 1960s by Donald Davidson ‒ in opposition to Wittgensteinian anti-causalism ‒ in his influential essay “Actions, Reasons, and Causes” (1963) it has since become the definitive reference point in action theory. This study first traces the historical origins of the model prior to Davidson; it then demonstrates that, while rooted in Humean principles, the Davidsonian version is significantly informed by contemporary decision theory and represents, at least in general terms, a restatement of Aristotle’s theory of deliberation.