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    A ruler who directs will only through reward and punishme... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The ruler can direct the people's will toward whatever the ruler desires

    A ruler who directs will only through reward and punishment produces strategic compliance, not directed will, making the claim equivocate between behavioral control and genuine volitional guidance.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Genuine volitional guidance requires subjects to internalize values; external rewards/punishments leave motivation extrinsic and reversible.
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    • 2.Strategic compliance means people comply only when monitored; true directed will persists independently of surveillance or incentive structures.
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    • 3.The equivocation conflates behavioral outcomes with authentic agency: a person can obey without endorsing the directive as their own will.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.All norm-internalization ultimately traces to prior external incentives; the distinction between 'extrinsic' and 'intrinsic' may be illusory.
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    • 2.Strategic compliance can be stable and reliable; distinction from 'genuine will' invokes unobservable psychological states, not behavioral facts.
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    • 3.Rulers directing behavior successfully through incentives still achieve genuine coordination of wills if subjects rationally accept the terms.
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    Key Terms

    Behavioral control(as used in ethics and political philosophy)
    Making someone do what you want by controlling their actions through rewards, punishments, or force—regardless of what they actually think or believe.
    Directed will(as used in ethics and philosophy of action)
    When someone genuinely wants to do something because they've been persuaded it's the right thing to do, not just because they're forced or bribed.
    Equivocate(in describing the logical flaw Arnauld identified)
    To use a word or phrase in two different ways within an argument, making the reasoning unclear or misleading.
    Strategic compliance(as used in ethics and political philosophy)
    When someone follows orders or rules just to get rewards or avoid punishment, without actually believing in or caring about what they're doing.
    Volitional guidance(as used in ethics and political philosophy)
    Helping someone make their own free choices by appealing to their reason and values, rather than controlling them through fear or incentives.

    Connections

    2 topics

    Social Contract1 linkedDemocracy & Governance1 linked

    Related

    All norm-internalization ultimately traces to prior external incentives; the dis...Genuine volitional guidance requires subjects to internalize values; external re...Rulers directing behavior successfully through incentives still achieve genuine ...Strategic compliance can be stable and reliable; distinction from 'genuine will'...
    +3 moreShow less
    Strategic compliance means people comply only when monitored; true directed will...The equivocation conflates behavioral outcomes with authentic agency: a person c...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    The ruler can direct the people's will toward whatever the ruler desires