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    An action that admits of no alternative possibilities can... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Even a very specific prophecy that renders an action inevitable does not thereby make that action unfree.

    An action that admits of no alternative possibilities cannot be free in the morally relevant sense, even if performed without external compulsion.

    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Moral responsibility requires the agent could have done otherwise; without alternatives, responsibility becomes meaningless punishment.
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    • 2.Determinism eliminates genuine alternatives; an action following necessarily from prior states wasn't truly chosen among options.
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    • 3.Desert-based justifications for punishment presuppose the agent possessed real choice; necessity undercuts this justification entirely.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Freedom relevant to morality might require only acting from one's own desires and reasoning, not metaphysical alternative possibilities.
      ?

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    • 2.If determinism is true, the 'alternatives' condition is impossible for anyone; yet we reasonably hold people morally responsible.
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    • 3.An agent who acts from stable character and reasoning demonstrates moral agency regardless of whether physics allowed different outcomes.
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    Free Will & Foreknowledge1 linked

    Related

    An agent who acts from stable character and reasoning demonstrates moral agency ...Desert-based justifications for punishment presuppose the agent possessed real c...Determinism eliminates genuine alternatives; an action following necessarily fro...Even a very specific prophecy that renders an action inevitable does not thereby...
    +3 moreShow less
    Freedom relevant to morality might require only acting from one's own desires an...If determinism is true, the 'alternatives' condition is impossible for anyone; y...Moral responsibility requires the agent could have done otherwise; without alter...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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    1 edit