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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Behavior caused by beliefs and desires is necessary but n... — Carmelics
    Home/Moral Responsibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Behavior caused by beliefs and desires is necessary but not sufficient for that behavior to count as action.

    Consciousness & MindMoral 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.Behavior must be caused by an agent's beliefs and desires in order to be action.
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    • 2.There exist cases where beliefs and desires cause behavior that is not rationalized by those states, and such behavior is not action.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Roderick Chisholm and agent causation theorists argue that genuine action requires a sui generis causal relation between the agent-as-substance and the event, irreducible to event causation by mental states.
      ?

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    • 2.If agent causation is the correct account, then belief-desire causation is not even necessary for action, since the agent can initiate action without being caused to do so by prior mental events.
      ?

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    • 3.Davidson's claim that beliefs and desires are necessary thus presupposes the falsity of agent causation rather than establishing it, making the argument question-begging against libertarian traditions.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Harry Frankfurt's hierarchical mesh theory shows that action requires not mere belief-desire causation but the agent's identification with motivating desires via second-order volitions.
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    • 2.If Frankfurt is correct, belief-desire causation is neither necessary nor sufficient for action, undermining the asymmetric sufficiency claim entirely.
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    Topics

    Moral ResponsibilityConsciousness & Mind

    Related

    Behavior must be caused by an agent's beliefs and desires in order to be action.Davidson's claim that beliefs and desires are necessary thus presupposes the fal...Harry Frankfurt's hierarchical mesh theory shows that action requires not mere b...If Frankfurt is correct, belief-desire causation is neither necessary nor suffic...
    +3 moreShow less
    If agent causation is the correct account, then belief-desire causation is not e...Roderick Chisholm and agent causation theorists argue that genuine action requir...There exist cases where beliefs and desires cause behavior that is not rationali...

    Similar

    For behavior to constitute action, it must be caused by the agent's be...89%There exist cases where beliefs and desires cause behavior that is not...87%Behavior caused by beliefs and desires in a deviant causal chain is no...87%Behavior must be caused by an agent's beliefs and desires in order to ...86%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: anomalous-monism
    View source passageHide passage
    A key point to grasp in many of the issues raised by Anomalous Monism is that there is an important distinction between action and behavior. According to Davidson, action is intentionally described behavior—the moving of a hand through space in a certain way may, but need not, be an action of waving or swatting or any action at all. It may simply be mere bodily behavior—as happens as the result of a muscle twitch or a strong gust of wind. The behavior must be caused by an agent’s beliefs and des
    Extraction notes

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

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit