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Inverse View
It is not the case that Even a very specific prophecy that renders an action inevitable does not thereby make that action unfree.
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Reasons For
2 perspectives
Reason for 1 of 2
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1.
If a specific prophecy guarantees an action will occur, then no alternative possibilities exist for the agent at the moment of action.
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2.
Genuine freedom of will requires the ability to do otherwise under identical circumstances, as defended by libertarians from Reid to van Inwagen.
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3.
An action that admits of no alternative possibilities cannot be free in the morally relevant sense, even if performed without external compulsion.
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Reason for 2 of 2
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1.
The distinction between freedom of action and freedom of will collapses when the will itself is the object rendered inevitable by the prophecy.
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2.
Frankfurt-style compatibilism notwithstanding, if a prophesied agent's deliberative process is pre-determined by foreknowledge, the will's authenticity is undermined, as Kant argued in the Critique of Pure Reason regarding causal necessity and rational autonomy.
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Reasons Against
1 perspective
Reason against
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1.
Rendering an action inevitable is not the same as making the action unfree.
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2.
Freedom of action is distinct from freedom of will.
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3.
An action can be inevitable and yet still be a free action.
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