intentional action (agency)

date_precision: year

definition: Action is intentional under a description and known in practical knowledge by the agent; intention plays a basic explanatory role in agency.

discipline: philosophy

authors: G. E. M. Anscombe

source_title: Intention

venue: Book

publisher: Basil Blackwell (1957); reprint Harvard University Press (2000)

type: book

notes: Foundational work in philosophy of action.


agency (Restatement Second)

definition: Authoritative restatement of U.S. agency law, including the classic black‑letter definition of agency and the scope of principal–agent relationships.

discipline: law

authors: American Law Institute

source_title: Restatement of the Law, Second, Agency 2d

venue: Restatement

publisher: American Law Institute

type: reference

notes: Superseded by Restatement (Third) of Agency (2006).


action (causal theory)

definition: Intentional actions are explained by an agent’s primary reason—typically a belief–desire pair—that also causally produces the action.

authors: Donald Davidson

source_title: Actions, Reasons, and Causes

venue: Journal of Philosophy; reprinted in Essays on Actions and Events

publisher: Oxford University Press (2001)

type: paper

notes: Classic defense of the causal theory of action.


agency

definition: Introduces agency and communion as fundamental modalities of human existence; agency concerns the individual’s capacity to act, assert, and master the environment.

discipline: psychology

authors: David Bakan

source_title: The Duality of Human Existence: An Essay on Psychology and Religion

publisher: Beacon Press

notes: Classic origin of 'agency vs. communion' framing.


agentic state

definition: A psychological condition in which individuals see themselves as instruments for carrying out another’s wishes, shifting responsibility to the authority.

authors: Stanley Milgram

source_title: Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View

publisher: Harper & Row

notes: Introduces 'agentic state' in obedience research.


agency relationship

date_precision: day

definition: A contract under which one or more persons (the principals) engage another (the agent) to perform services on their behalf which involves delegating some decision-making authority to the agent.

discipline: economics

authors: Michael C. Jensen; William H. Meckling

source_title: Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure

venue: Journal of Financial Economics

publisher: Elsevier

notes: Canonical economics definition of agency relationship.


agency

definition: In social theory, agency is the capacity of actors to make a difference and to intervene in the world; not reducible to mere behavior or intention.

discipline: sociology

authors: Anthony Giddens

source_title: The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration

publisher: University of California Press

notes: Structuration theory’s influential account of agency.


agent

definition: In cognitive science, a mind can be seen as a society of simple 'agents'—small processes that by their interactions give rise to intelligent behavior.

discipline: cognitive science

authors: Marvin Minsky

source_title: The Society of Mind

publisher: Simon & Schuster

notes: Popularized 'agents' as simple processes composing intelligence.


planning agency

definition: Agency organized by intentions as elements of partial plans that structure practical reasoning and action over time and socially.

authors: Michael E. Bratman

source_title: Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason

publisher: Harvard University Press (orig. 1987); distributed by CSLI/Chicago

notes: Planning theory of intention and its role in agency.


intentional system (Dennett)

definition: An intentional system is one whose behavior is reliably predictable via the strategy of attributing beliefs and desires—the intentional stance.

authors: Daniel C. Dennett

source_title: The Intentional Stance

publisher: MIT Press (Bradford Books)

notes: Intentional stance as a predictive strategy; relevant to agency.


human agency

definition: Human agency is exercised via intentionality, forethought, self‑reactiveness (self‑regulation), and self‑reflectiveness within triadic reciprocal causation.

authors: Albert Bandura

source_title: Human Agency in Social Cognitive Theory

venue: American Psychologist

publisher: American Psychological Association

notes: Seminal psychology treatment of human agency.


agent (AGENT0)

definition: An agent is a computational entity characterized in mentalistic terms (e.g., beliefs, commitments), interacting via an agent communication language and operating autonomously.

discipline: computer science

authors: Yoav Shoham

source_title: AGENT0: A Simple Agent Language and Its Interpreter

venue: Proceedings of AAAI-91 Workshop on Knowledge and Action at Social and Organizational Levels

publisher: AAAI Press

notes: Early operationalization of agents in AOP paradigm.


agent-oriented programming (AOP)

definition: Defines software agents in terms of mental state components (beliefs, obligations, choices) and interactions; agents are autonomous entities with internal state and social ability.

source_title: Agent-Oriented Programming

venue: Artificial Intelligence

notes: Foundational AOP definition (BDI lineage).


software agent

definition: Long-lived, autonomous, adaptive software that assists users by learning preferences and acting on their behalf to reduce information overload.

discipline: hci

authors: Pattie Maes

source_title: Agents that Reduce Work and Information Overload

venue: Communications of the ACM

publisher: ACM

notes: HCI-centered agent definition emphasizing assistance and autonomy.


intelligent agent

definition: A computer system situated in an environment that is capable of autonomous action to meet its objectives; typically autonomous, reactive, proactive, and social.

authors: Michael Wooldridge; Nicholas R. Jennings

source_title: Intelligent Agents: Theory and Practice

venue: Knowledge Engineering Review

publisher: Cambridge University Press

notes: Classic properties of agents (autonomy, reactivity, proactivity, social ability).


agent

definition: Anything that can be viewed as perceiving its environment through sensors and acting upon that environment through actuators.

discipline: ai

authors: Stuart Russell; Peter Norvig

source_title: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (1st ed.)

venue: Textbook

publisher: Prentice Hall

notes: Standard AI textbook definition; see Chapter 2 in later editions.


agents in complex adaptive systems

definition: Complex adaptive systems consist of many interacting agents following rules; adaptive behavior emerges from their local interactions and learning.

discipline: complex systems

authors: John H. Holland

source_title: Hidden Order: How Adaptation Builds Complexity

publisher: Addison‑Wesley (Helix Books)

notes: CAS framing where agents are rule‑based adaptive entities.


autonomous agent

definition: A system situated within and part of an environment that senses and acts on that environment over time, pursuing its own agenda so as to affect future perceptions.

authors: Stan Franklin; Art Graesser

source_title: Is it an Agent, or Just a Program? A Taxonomy for Autonomous Agents

venue: Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages (ATAL)

publisher: Springer

notes: Influential taxonomy with widely cited definition.


agent (ABM)

definition: In agent-based computational models, agents are autonomous heterogeneous individuals with internal states and rules who interact locally to produce emergent macro patterns.

authors: Joshua M. Epstein; Robert Axtell

source_title: Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up

publisher: Brookings Institution Press / MIT Press

notes: Foundational in agent-based modeling for social science.


agent (RL)

definition: In reinforcement learning, an agent selects actions based on interaction with an environment to maximize cumulative reward over time.

authors: Richard S. Sutton; Andrew G. Barto

source_title: Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction (1st ed.)

publisher: MIT Press

notes: Defines the RL agent-environment framework.


agent (MAS)

definition: In multiagent systems, agents are autonomous problem‑solving entities that interact—cooperating, coordinating, and negotiating—to achieve goals.

authors: Gerhard Weiss (ed.)

source_title: Multiagent Systems: A Modern Approach to Distributed Artificial Intelligence

notes: Collected foundational treatments of agents and MAS.


multi‑agent systems (Ferber)

definition: Defines agents and multi‑agent systems as distributed artificial intelligence composed of interacting autonomous entities situated in an environment.

authors: Jacques Ferber

source_title: Multi‑Agent Systems: An Introduction to Distributed Artificial Intelligence

publisher: Addison‑Wesley Professional

notes: English translation of 1995 French edition; standard MAS text.


autonomous agent (Kauffman)

definition: A natural autonomous agent is a system capable of reproducing and performing at least one thermodynamic work cycle, thus acting on its own behalf.

authors: Stuart A. Kauffman

source_title: Investigations (Chapter 3: Autonomous Agents)

publisher: Oxford University Press

notes: Thermodynamic criteria for natural autonomous agents.


agent (AOSE)

definition: Software agents are autonomous, problem‑solving computational entities capable of effective operation in dynamic and open environments and of interacting with other agents (or humans).

authors: Nicholas R. Jennings; Katia Sycara; Michael Wooldridge

source_title: A Roadmap of Agent Research and Development / Agent‑Oriented Software Engineering

venue: Autonomous Agents and Multi‑Agent Systems; AOSE 2001 (LNCS 1957/2222)

notes: AOSE framing of agents used in software engineering.


agentic

definition: Social cognitive theory frames people as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting, and self-regulating—an agentic perspective of human functioning.

source_title: Social Cognitive Theory: An Agentic Perspective

venue: Annual Review of Psychology

publisher: Annual Reviews

notes: Key modern psychology definition of 'agentic'.


multiagent system (agent)

definition: Defines agents as autonomous computational entities situated in an environment, often with capabilities for communication and cooperation within multiagent systems.

authors: Michael Wooldridge

source_title: An Introduction to MultiAgent Systems

publisher: Wiley

notes: Textbook synthesis of agent properties and MAS.


agent (ABM definition)

definition: In agent‑based modeling, a system is modeled as a collection of autonomous decision‑making entities called agents that interact to produce system‑level behavior.

authors: Eric Bonabeau

source_title: Agent‑based modeling: Methods and techniques for simulating human systems

venue: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)

publisher: National Academy of Sciences

notes: Frequently cited ABM definition.


agent (ABM, social science)

definition: In social‑science simulation, agents are autonomous entities with states and rules whose interactions generate emergent macro‑patterns in agent‑based models.

authors: Nigel Gilbert; Klaus Troitzsch

source_title: Simulation for the Social Scientist (2nd ed.)

publisher: Open University Press

notes: Standard ABM text for social scientists.


agent (law)

definition: Under the Restatement (Third) of Agency, agency is the fiduciary relationship that arises when a principal manifests assent that an agent act on the principal’s behalf and subject to the principal’s control, and the agent manifests assent or otherwise consents.

authors: American Law Institute

source_title: Restatement (Third) of Agency §1.01

publisher: ALI

notes: See Cornell LII summary; original text in ALI Restatement.


agent (generative social science)

date_precision: month

definition: Agents are simple rule‑based actors whose local interactions generate macro‑level regularities; explanation seeks to grow the phenomenon from the bottom up.

authors: Joshua M. Epstein

source_title: Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent‑Based Computational Modeling

publisher: Princeton University Press

notes: Defines the generative program of ABM.


human agency (2006)

definition: Agency involves forethought, self‑regulation, and self‑reflection; people are producers as well as products of social systems.

authors: Albert Bandura

source_title: Toward a Psychology of Human Agency

venue: Perspectives on Psychological Science

publisher: SAGE

notes: Updated statement of social cognitive agentic view.


agent (philosophy)

definition: In analytic philosophy, agency concerns what it is to act and to be an agent—issues about intention, control, reasons, and responsibility.

authors: Michael Bratman et al.

source_title: Agency

venue: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

publisher: Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University

notes: SEP overview entry (periodically updated).


agency (SEP entry)

definition: Agency concerns what it is to act and to be an agent—issues about intention, control, reasons, and responsibility (survey of leading accounts).

authors: Michael Bratman

source_title: Agency (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

venue: Reference

publisher: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

notes: Living reference, substantially revised 2019 and later.


agent (AIFCA)

definition: An agent is something that acts in an environment; it does something. Agents include robots, humans, and software systems.

authors: David Poole; Alan Mackworth

source_title: Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents (2nd ed.)

publisher: Cambridge University Press

notes: Concise general definition used in AIFCA.


action (overview)

definition: Philosophical accounts of agency center on what makes something an action, with Davidson’s causal theory and Anscombe’s practical‑knowledge view as major reference points.

authors: Juan Piñeros Glasscock; Sergio Tenenbaum

source_title: Action (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

notes: Comprehensive reference on action and agency (2023 entry).


agent / agency (legal dictionary)

definition: Black’s Law Dictionary (11th ed.) provides authoritative legal definitions of ‘agent’ and ‘agency’ widely cited by U.S. courts and practitioners.

authors: Bryan A. Garner (ed.)

source_title: Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th Edition

publisher: Thomson Reuters

notes: Edition announcement; full text available via Thomson Reuters/Westlaw.


LLM agent (ReAct)

definition: Combines chain-of-thought reasoning with decision-time tool use, enabling an LLM to iteratively plan, act via tools, and observe to achieve goals.

authors: Shunyu Yao; Dian Yu; Jeffrey Zhao; et al.

source_title: ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models

venue: arXiv preprint

publisher: arXiv

notes: Catalyzed LLM-as-agent pattern.


generative agents

definition: Computational agents powered by LLMs that simulate believable human behaviors over long horizons via memory, planning, and reflection.

authors: Joon Sung Park; Joseph C. O’Brien; Carrie J. Cai; et al.

source_title: Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior

notes: Popularized sandboxed LLM agents in a society simulation.


agentic AI

definition: A design pattern where AI systems autonomously plan, take actions using tools, and iterate towards goals with minimal human supervision.

authors: IBM

source_title: What is agentic AI?

venue: IBM Learn Hub

publisher: IBM

type: web

notes: Enterprise-oriented definition of 'agentic AI'.


AI agent (Google)

definition: Google frames agents as systems that can understand, reason, and act to get things done for users—often by orchestrating tools and services.

authors: Google

source_title: Google I/O 2024 keynote – agents overview

venue: Web

publisher: Google

notes: Informal and product-oriented definition.


AI agent (LangChain)

definition: A system that uses an LLM to decide the control flow of an application.

authors: Harrison Chase

source_title: What is an AI agent?

venue: LangChain Blog

publisher: LangChain

notes: Concise definition used by LangChain; introduces spectrum of agentic behavior.


agent (legal definition)

definition: A person authorized to act on behalf of another (the principal) and subject to the principal’s control; agents owe fiduciary duties to principals.

authors: Legal Information Institute (Cornell)

source_title: Agent

venue: Wex Legal Dictionary

publisher: Cornell Law School

notes: Plain-language legal definition with references to Restatement.


agent (LangChain docs)

definition: Agents combine language models with tools to reason about tasks, choose tools, and iteratively work toward solutions in a loop until a stop condition is met.

authors: LangChain Docs

source_title: Agents (v1 docs)

venue: Documentation

notes: Production-ready ReAct agent and graph-based runtime using LangGraph.


agent (LangGraph docs)

definition: Typically an LLM performing actions using tools in a continuous feedback loop for unpredictable problems; more autonomous than workflows but guided by defined toolsets and rules.

authors: LangGraph Docs

source_title: Workflows and agents

notes: Defines agents vs. workflows; emphasizes tool use and loops.


tool use (Claude)

definition: Claude chooses if and when to call client or server tools, executes them, and incorporates results in iterative responses—an agentic loop for action via tools.

authors: Anthropic Docs

source_title: Tool use with Claude (overview)

publisher: Anthropic

notes: Anthropic’s agentic pattern framed through tool use & tool_choice.


agent (Vertex AI glossary)

definition: Software that autonomously plans and executes a series of actions toward a goal; an LLM agent evaluates its environment and selects actions to achieve that goal.

authors: Google Cloud Docs

source_title: Generative AI glossary – agent

publisher: Google Cloud

notes: Enterprise glossary entry defining AI agents/LLM agents.


agent (LlamaIndex)

definition: A specific agentic application: software that semi‑autonomously performs tasks by combining LLMs with tools and memory in a reasoning loop that chooses the next tool (if any).

authors: LlamaIndex Docs

source_title: High‑Level Concepts / Agents

publisher: LlamaIndex

notes: Also see Agents guide in LlamaIndex.


agent (Cursor)

definition: Cursor’s coding assistant that can autonomously complete complex coding tasks, execute terminal commands, and edit code with guardrails and approvals.

authors: Cursor Docs

source_title: Agent – Overview

publisher: Cursor

notes: Product definition of Cursor’s Agent; see Background Agents for API.


agent (AutoGen)

definition: A software entity that communicates via messages, maintains state, and performs actions (e.g., executing code, calling APIs) in response to messages—composable into multi‑agent apps.

authors: Microsoft AutoGen Docs

source_title: Agent and Multi‑Agent Applications

publisher: Microsoft

notes: Core concept definition used by AutoGen framework.


operator (OpenAI)

definition: A research-preview browser-using agent that performs tasks for you by perceiving and interacting with web UIs, handing control back when needed.

authors: OpenAI

source_title: Introducing Operator

venue: OpenAI Blog

publisher: OpenAI

notes: Defines an agentic product using a computer-using model.


agentic (Simon Willison)

definition: Agentic AI: LLMs calling tools in a loop to achieve a user’s goal—iteratively planning, executing, and checking results.

authors: Simon Willison

source_title: Agent definitions (tag archive)

venue: Blog

notes: Curated definitions; includes Willison’s concise characterization.


agent (OpenAI)

definition: Systems that independently accomplish tasks on behalf of users.

source_title: New tools for building agents

notes: OpenAI’s concise definition alongside Responses API and Agents SDK.


agent (Simon Willison)

definition: An LLM agent runs tools in a loop to achieve a goal, capturing the emerging consensus definition in AI engineering practice.

source_title: I think “agent” may finally have a widely enough agreed upon definition to be useful jargon now

notes: Willison’s synthesis of industry usage; highlights tool-using loops as the core property.


ChatGPT agent

definition: ChatGPT mode that completes complex online tasks on your behalf, switching between reasoning and action while keeping the user in control.

authors: OpenAI Help Center

source_title: ChatGPT agent - release notes

venue: Help Center

notes: Release notes define capabilities and positioning.