Abstract
The paper concerns the concept of social prevention as a special kind of action. My aim is to define the characteristics of this concept (and - indirectly - the phenomenon of social prevention) with the tools of analysis proposed by Nicholas Rescher (1966, 215-220): (1) agent (who did the action?); (2) act-type (what did she do?); (3) modality of action (how did she/he do the action?): a. modality of manner (in what manner did she/he do the action?), b. modality of means (by what means did she/he do the action?); (4) setting of action (in what context did she/he do the action?): a. temporal aspect (when did she/he do the action?), b. spatial aspect (where did she/he do the action?), c. circumstantial aspect (under what circumstances did she/he do the action?); (5) rationale of action (why did she/he do the action?): a. causality (what caused her/him to do the action?), b. finality (with what aim did she/he do the action?), c. intentionality (in what state of mind did she/ he do the action?).