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Action (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

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There is an important difference between activity and passivity: the fire is active with respect to the log when it burns it (and the log passive with respect to the fire). Within activity, there is also an important difference between the acts of certain organisms and the activities of non-living things like fire: when ants build a nest, or a cat stalks a bird, they act in a sense in which the fire does not. Finally, there is a long-standing tradition in philosophy going back at least as far as Plato and Aristotle that recognizes an important distinction between the acts that (non-human) animals in general are capable of, and the special sorts of actions that human beings do intentionally, such as going to the store, making phone calls, protesting an injustice, or knitting a sweater. This tradition views the latter group as practical manifestations of our rational capacities.

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