Prima facie Danto's definition of "basic action" is plausible. Suppose that I raise my arm without causing it to rise, for example, by lifting it with my other arm or by getting another person to lift it. It seems that in this case my raising my arm is not caused by any other action that I perform: my raising my arm here is an action that I perform independently of other actions that I perform. However, definitions (DI) and (D2) are problematical for at least two reasons. First, actions that would intuitively be taken as non-basic are designated as basic actions on definitions (Dl) and (D2); and second, (DI) and (D2) make the false claim that actions