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    Compatibilists like Lewis (1981) distinguish between the ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Even on a Humean view of laws, it does not automatically follow that humans have the freedom to have done otherwise given certain past states of affairs.

    Compatibilists like Lewis (1981) distinguish between the ability to act such that the past would have been different and the ability to act such that the laws would have been violated.

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

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Moral responsibility requires only that agents act on their own desires and reasoning, not that they could violate physical laws.
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    • 2.The ability to act differently given identical past and laws is metaphysically impossible, so it shouldn't ground moral responsibility.
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    • 3.We reasonably hold people accountable for choices flowing from their character, even in a deterministic universe with fixed laws.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.If all our actions necessarily follow from the past and laws, the distinction between two impossible abilities seems merely verbal.
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    • 2.Responsibility intuitions suggest we could have genuinely done otherwise; Lewis's distinction may preserve the word 'ability' while losing its force.
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    • 3.Compatibilist ability requires only counterfactual responsiveness to reasons, but determinism may undermine whether we truly respond to reasons at all.
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    Key Terms

    Compatibilists(as used in philosophy of free will)
    Philosophers who believe that free will and determinism (the idea that everything is predetermined) can both be true at the same time, rather than being opposites.
    Laws (of nature)(as what the statement is debating whether biology can produce)
    Universal rules or patterns that describe how the natural world works and what must happen under certain conditions—like gravity or conservation of energy.
    Lewis(philosopher who created the similarity metric being discussed)
    David Lewis was a famous American philosopher who developed influential theories about possible worlds—alternative ways reality could have been.
    determinism(Discussion of classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and general relativity)
    A property of physical theories concerning whether the laws governing a system fully fix future (and past) states given present conditions; admits of degrees ('fall only a bit short')
    free will(Kant's practical resolution of the third antinomy)
    An exemption from the laws of nature; the power of doing and forbearing

    Connections

    1 topic

    Free Will & Foreknowledge1 linked

    Related

    Compatibilist ability requires only counterfactual responsiveness to reasons, bu...Even on a Humean view of laws, it does not automatically follow that humans have...If all our actions necessarily follow from the past and laws, the distinction be...Moral responsibility requires only that agents act on their own desires and reas...
    +3 moreShow less
    Responsibility intuitions suggest we could have genuinely done otherwise; Lewis'...The ability to act differently given identical past and laws is metaphysically i...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    We reasonably hold people accountable for choices flowing from their character, ...