We will analyze critically the theory of action of John Searle. Our purpose is to inter-pret the agential causality (agent-action) as a kind of downward causation that allows us to build an explanatory framework that is coherent with the existence of the pheno-mena like the gap and akrasia. The text is developed in three steps. First, we articulate the fundamental concepts that Searle uses to understand the causality of human action: the gap and the ‘substantial’ self. In this section we find inconsistency in his conception on the relationship between mental and physical causation. In the second, we analyze two fundamental problems in the theory of action that seeks to understand the causal link between mind and action in an efficient way; here precisely Searle lies with the greater part of the tradition. Finally, through the third section we develop an emergentist interpretation on agent and mental causation through downward causa-tion. The importance of introducing the concept of downward causation is to resolve the inconsistency that is created between the conception of universal causal laws, and the freedom of agency introduced by the phenomenon of the gap.