abilities

Definition and semantic field

Abilities are powers an agent has to perform various actions. Some abilities are very common among human agents, like the ability to walk or to speak. Other abilities are only possessed by a few, such as the ability to perform a double backflip or to prove Gödel's incompleteness theorem. While all abilities are powers, the converse is not true, i.e. there are some powers that are not abilities. This is the case, for example, for powers that are not possessed by agents, like the power of salt to dissolve in water. But some powers possessed by agents do not constitute abilities either. For example, the power to understand French is not an ability in this sense since it does not involve an action, in contrast to the ability to speak French. This distinction depends on the difference between actions and non-actions. Actions are usually defined as events that an agent performs for a purpose and that are guided by the person's intention, in contrast to mere behavior, like involuntary reflexes. In this sense, abilities can be seen as intelligent powers.