This thesis develops a disjunctivist approach to action as an alternative to the standard causal theory, or 'causalism'. The standard theory promotes a concept of action as constituted by a bodily event joined to certain mental conditions by a bond of causation. A disjunctivist approach, in contrast, claims that action must be distinguished by more than merely its etiology: action and mere movement are fundamentally different kinds. Recent objections to the causal theory of action are first surveyed, and the common causalist assumption claiming Aristotle as the progenitor of the causal theory is examined and dismissed. More refined interpretations of Aristotle's thought on action yield two different concepts: action as change, and action as a unified psychophysical process. The latter in particular is argued to hold promise as a basis for developing the disjunctivist approach to action. The remainder of the thesis therefore considers a contemporary account of psychophysicality, known as 'embodiment theory' (Hanna and Maiese 2009), with the conclusion that the intelligibility of the account depends on appeal to a recent variant of top-down causation (Steward 2012). The thesis also concludes that consideration of the concept of an animal agent makes it entirely unsurprising that the mental and physical are always found together in voluntary movement, and that the embodiment theory's central notion of ‘property fusion' potentially complements a naturalistic variant of top-down causation in explanations of agency.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2017-04-12T12:40:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Raul Marques Linhares_.pdf: 1527626 bytes, checksum: 45bf0c33e585cda133e945d2e2514f14 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-12T12:40:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Raul Marques Linhares_.pdf: 1527626 bytes, checksum: 45bf0c33e585cda133e945d2e2514f14 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-01-10 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta pesquisa está centrada no estudo dos principais paradigmas metodológicos empregados ao longo da história da teoria geral do delito, bem como do contemporâneo paradigma funcionalista nas propostas de Claus Roxin e de Günther Jakobs, concluindo-se pela verificação de que essa nova corrente dogmática já se faz presente na prática jurisdicional brasileira. Para a realização desse trabalho, os primeiros capítulos são construídos por meio de pesquisa bibliográfica, para viabilizar a construção teórica dos principais pontos dos paradigmas causalismo, neokantismo, finalismo e funcionalismo da dogmática penal, fazendo-se referência aos autores clássicos de cada paradigma, tendo se elegido como vertentes do funcionalismo a serem examinadas as propostas de Claus Roxin e Günther Jakobs, considerados os principais representantes dessa corrente de pensamento. Após isso, finaliza-se a pesquisa com a análise de julgados do Superior Tribunal de Justiça, selecionados unicamente com a finalidade de se demonstrar que o funcionalismo penal já se faz presente na aplicação da teoria geral do delito no Brasil. Dessa forma, mesmo que diante da recente prevalência do finalismo na dogmática jurídico-penal nacional (ou que se afirme ser esse paradigma ainda absolutamente vigente na teoria do delito), se está já diante da adoção de pontos específicos da proposta funcionalista, o que pode significar a existência de uma fase de transição de paradigmas dogmáticos. / This research is focused on the study of the main methodological paradigms employed throughout history of the general theory of crime, as well as the contemporary functionalist paradigm in the proposals of Claus Roxin and Günther Jakobs, concluding by the verification that this new dogma chain is already present in the Brazilian jurisdictional practice. In order to accomplish this work, the first couple chapters are constructed through bibliographic research, to enable the theoretical construction of the main points of the causalism, Neo-Kantianism, finalism, and functionalism paradigms of criminal dogmatic, making reference to the classical authors of each paradigm, having been elected as strands of functionalism to be examined the proposals of Claus Roxin and Günther Jakobs, considered the key representatives of this school of thought. After that, we conclude the research with the analysis of trials of the Superior Court of Justice, selected solely with the purpose of demonstrating that the criminal functionalism is already present in the application of the general theory of crime in Brazil. This way, even before the recent prevalence of finalism in the national Criminal Law dogmatic (or else that one might claim that this paradigm is still absolutely valid in the theory of crime), we are already before the adoption of specific points of the functionalist proposal, which can mean the existence of a transitional phase between dogmatic paradigms.