如果我让你说出一些认知的方式，你可能会提到一些熟悉的。你可以通过使用你的感官观察来了解一些事情:你可以通过向窗外看来知道天是黑的。你可以通过证词来了解一些事情:你可以通过听你的朋友告诉你Barney’s正在打折。你也可以通过心算来了解一些东西:你可以通过68和57相加来算出68 + 57等于125。

In each of these cases, you’re coming to know something that was already a matter of fact: it was dark before you knew it, the sale ran before you knew it, and 68 + 57 has been 125 since at least the dawn of time. In other words, each of these cases of coming to know something involvedlearning: gaining knowledge of a fact that was a fact even before you knew about it.

但还有另一种了解事物的方式，我敢打赌你一开始不会想到。这种了解的方式不涉及观察事物、获取证据或计算任何东西。And it doesn’t involvelearning: coming to know in this way doesn’t involve coming to know a pre-existing fact. For these two reasons, it’s unlike other ways of knowing things about the world. But it’s not exactly mystical or inaccessible. On the contrary, it’s positively commonplace. This way of knowing arises when you do something intentionally.

There’s a rich history of philosophical debate about the precise nature ofintentionalaction,但基本原理是相当直接的。当你有意地做某件事时，你心里已经有了要做的事情，你可以控制发生的事情，从而实现这件事。例如，有意地打响指需要控制中指和拇指的动作，这样才能发出“啪”的一声。的声音，当我的手指碰到我的手掌。If I control my motions in just that way because I havesnapping my fingersin mind as the thing to be done, and I really do end up making that ‘snap!’ sound as a result, then I count as snapping my fingers intentionally. (Note that all-important condition: if the sound doesn’t result, then the whole action doesn’t count as snapping my fingers. It’s called “snapping” for a reason!)

When you do act intentionally, you tend to know what you’re doing—you’re the one doing it, after all! It can’t be a surprise to me that I snap my fingers, given that I’m snapping my fingers intentionally. It also wouldn’t be a surprise to you if you wandered into a closed-door discussion of your promotion—if you were doing thatintentionally. The fact that you tend to know what you’re doing, when you’re doing that intentionally, was first discussed extensively byG.E.M. Anscombe(in her 1957 bookIntention),and then a little later byStuart Hampshire(in his 1959 bookThought and Action).这在哲学上是一个开创性的观点，但在直觉上也是可信的。这也许能很好地解释为什么你不能故意给自己挠痒痒(你知道什么时候会痒!)，以及为什么你在蜿蜒的山路上开车时不太可能晕车(没有弯道或转弯会让你可怜的胃感到惊讶)。

One remarkable thing about this kind of knowledge, which Anscombe labeled “practical knowledge,” is the way in which you get it. You don’t have to perceive yourself acting, or gather testimony from others, or even do any calculations, in order to know what you’re doing while you’re doing something intentionally. You don’t have to relate to the world in any of these other ways you relate to the world when you gain knowledge.

This is remarkable partly becausewhatyou know, when you know what you’re doing, is a fact about the physical world. For example, when I know thatI am snapping my fingers, I know that something’s going on that involves a quick, sharp noise, and I know that the hunks of matter that constitute my fingers are making that noise. But I could wear perfect noise-canceling headphones, numb my fingers, and close my eyes while intentionally snapping my fingers, andstillknow that my fingers are moving in such a way that produces that quick, sharp ‘snap!’ The possibility of cutting off information from my senses, and still having the same knowledge, illustrates the fact that this kind of knowledge doesn’t rely on observation by the senses at all.

更明显的是，我对自己故意行为的了解并不依赖于任何人的证词，也不依赖于我能在脑海中做出的任何计算。甚至不清楚哪种类型的计算与我知道我在打响指有关。很少有人会告诉你你故意在做什么。

把所有这些放在一起，我们就有了一种不依赖于感性观察、证明或计算的知识形式。这已经足够让它变得特别了。But there’s something else that’s remarkable about practical knowledge, too: this kind of knowledge doesn’t come aboutafterthe fact it is knowledgeof. Instead, since you know you’re snapping your fingers while doing that intentionally, this knowledge is born as the very fact is made. You come to know you’re snapping your fingers by starting to snap your fingers, and you know that as soon as it’s happening. That means that this way of coming to know doesn’t involvelearning, in the sense of gaining knowledge about a pre-existing fact. That’s a second special feature of practical knowledge, on top of its not being based on observation, testimony, or calculation.

实践知识的这两个显著特征可以用同样的方式解释:当你有意识地行动时，你是这里的控制者，是让事情发生的人。当你能控制某件事是否发生时，你不需要从你的感官或其他人那里得到保证，以便在你让它发生时知道它发生了。你有能力让它成为现实。And the fact of its happening is somethingyou创造:你带来它，你让它发生，所以你是那个让它发生的人。有意行为中的控制关系到实践知识的这两个特殊特征。

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