Gideon Yaffe

Publications

Attempts: In the Philosophy of Action and the Criminal Law
Gideon Yaffe (ACLS Fellow, 2008-09)

Gideon Yaffe presents a ground-breaking work which demonstrates the importance of philosophy of action for the law. Many people are serving sentences not for completing crimes, but for trying to. So the law governing attempted crimes is of practical as well as theoretical importance. Questions arising in the adjudication of attempts intersect with questions in the philosophy of action, such as what intention a person must have, if any, and what a person must do, if anything, to be trying to act.