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    Deliberation, as Aristotle argues in Nicomachean Ethics I... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Rational beings ought to choose in accordance with what will in fact happen, when they can know what that will be.

    Deliberation, as Aristotle argues in Nicomachean Ethics III, is only possible about what is genuinely open, so tying rationality to fixed futures collapses practical reason into fatalism.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Deliberation requires agents to weigh alternatives as genuinely possible; if futures are fixed, no alternative is truly open.
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    • 2.Fatalism treats rational deliberation as epiphenomenal—mere illusion of choice—undermining moral responsibility and agency.
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    • 3.Aristotle's account of praktike requires that what we deliberate about (means to ends) be causally dependent on our reasoning.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Determinism about outcomes doesn't entail fatalism if our deliberation causally produces those determined outcomes.
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    • 2.Deliberation can be rational even if constrained by prior conditions; openness needn't mean uncaused or indeterminate.
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    • 3.The Aristotelian framework assumes libertarian free will, but compatibilists offer rational deliberation within causal determinism.
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    Key Terms

    Aristotle
    Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher who lived over 2,000 years ago and is one of the most influential thinkers in Western history. He studied nearly every subject—from animals and plants to politics and ethics—and developed practical ways of thinking that shaped how people understand the world. His ideas on logic, nature, and how to live a good life are still taught and debated today because he focused on observing the real world rather than just abstract theories.
    Fixed futures(as the concept that would make deliberation impossible)
    The idea that what will happen in the future is already decided and unchangeable, leaving no room for real choice.
    Nicomachean Ethics(as an ancient ethical text)
    Aristotle's main book about how to live well and what makes a good person, organized around virtues like courage and honesty.
    deliberation(Aristotelian practical reasoning)
    A form of practical reasoning in which an agent has some end and reasons to a sufficient means for achieving that end.
    fatalism(Presented as a consequence allegedly entailed by backward causation.)
    The view that all events are fixed in advance and inevitable, such that agents cannot do otherwise than they do.
    practical reason(Kantian moral philosophy)
    The rational faculty by which agents determine what is morally valuable and impose the moral law upon themselves.

    Connections

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    Consequentialism1 linkedMoral Responsibility1 linked

    Related

    Aristotle's account of praktike requires that what we deliberate about (means to...Deliberation can be rational even if constrained by prior conditions; openness n...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    Deliberation requires agents to weigh alternatives as genuinely possible; if fut...
    Determinism about outcomes doesn't entail fatalism if our deliberation causally ...
    +3 moreShow less
    Fatalism treats rational deliberation as epiphenomenal—mere illusion of choice—u...Rational beings ought to choose in accordance with what will in fact happen, whe...The Aristotelian framework assumes libertarian free will, but compatibilists off...