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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
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    An agent could have done otherwise even under determinism — Carmelics
    Home/Moral Responsibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    An agent could have done otherwise even under determinism

    Free Will & ForeknowledgeMoral Responsibility
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Not all laws of nature are deterministic
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    • 2.The brain operates based on ceteris paribus laws that include a clause for the absence of external and internal forces
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    • 3.Ceteris paribus laws are sufficient to ground the claim that an agent could have done otherwise
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Ceteris paribus laws ground only statistical tendencies, not robust alternative possibilities sufficient for moral responsibility.
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    • 2.Frankfurt-style cases show that moral responsibility does not require the ability to do otherwise, making compatibilist appeals to indeterminacy dialectically irrelevant.
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    • 3.If alternative possibilities depend on random quantum fluctuations rather than the agent's own reasons, they cannot constitute the agent-controlled freedom libertarianism requires.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Under determinism, all antecedent conditions plus natural laws fix a unique future, entailing no agent could initiate a genuinely different causal sequence.
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    • 2.Van Inwagen's Consequence Argument demonstrates that if determinism is true, our acts are consequences of laws and remote past events beyond our control, so no agent could have done otherwise.
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    Topics

    Moral ResponsibilityFree Will & Foreknowledge

    Connections

    2 topics

    Causation1 linkedModality & Possibility1 linked

    Related

    Ceteris paribus laws are sufficient to ground the claim that an agent could have...Ceteris paribus laws ground only statistical tendencies, not robust alternative ...Frankfurt-style cases show that moral responsibility does not require the abilit...If alternative possibilities depend on random quantum fluctuations rather than t...
    +4 moreShow less
    Not all laws of nature are deterministicThe brain operates based on ceteris paribus laws that include a clause for the a...Under determinism, all antecedent conditions plus natural laws fix a unique futu...

    Similar

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    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: causation-backwards
    View source passageHide passage
    Indeed, the compatibilist will accept (1), because even an advocate of backward causation does not claim that the past can be changed. Moreover, the compatibilist does not have to accept backward causation. Most likely the compatibilist will not challenge the non-compatibilist by saying that we may be able to influence the past. It is much more likely that the compatibilist will object to the argument either by saying that not all laws of nature are deterministic or by saying that the brain oper
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Van Inwagen's Consequence Argument demonstrates that if determinism is true, our...
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit