Agency often consists in performing actions and engaging in activities that are successful. We pour glasses, catch objects, carry things, recite poems, and play instruments. It has therefore seemed tempting in recent philosophical thinking to conceptualise the relationship between our agentive abilities and our successes as follows: (Success) S is exercising their ability to ϕ only if S successfully ϕ-s. This paper argues that (Success) is false based on the observation that agency also often consists in making mistakes. We bungle things. We spill water, we miss objects thrown at us, we drop things, misremember lines, and mess up songs. I argue that these mistakes, doings that fall short of being a φ-ing, can only be understood as subpar exercises of the ability to φ. Since this understanding is incompatible with (Success), the thesis should be given up.

中文翻译：

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代理的失败与成功

能动性通常包括执行行动和参与成功的活动。我们倒酒杯、接东西、搬运东西、背诵诗歌、演奏乐器。因此，在最近的哲学思考中，我们似乎很容易将我们的能动能力和我们的成功之间的关系概念化如下：（成功）只有当 S 成功地 ψ-s 时，S 才发挥其 ψ 的能力。本文认为，基于代理也经常犯错误的观察，（成功）是错误的。我们把事情搞砸了。我们会洒水、错过扔向我们的物体、掉落东西、记错台词、弄乱歌曲。我认为这些错误，即不符合 φ-ing 的行为，只能被理解为对 φ 能力的低于标准的练习。由于这种理解与（成功）不相容，