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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Frankfurt's hierarchical mesh theory holds that responsibility depends on whether first-order desires align with second-order volitions, not on the causal history of those desires.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Second-order volitions themselves arise from causal histories; ignoring this begs the question about what grounds responsibility.
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    • 2.A manipulated agent could have aligned first and second-order desires while remaining non-responsible—causal history matters fundamentally.
      ?

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    • 3.The theory provides no principled explanation of why alignment with second-order volitions grounds responsibility rather than some other criterion.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Responsibility should focus on an agent's reflective endorsement of their desires, not factors beyond their control like genetic or social conditioning.
      ?

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    • 2.Two people with identical causal histories but different second-order volitions intuitively differ in responsibility—alignment theory captures this.
      ?

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    • 3.Frankfurt's model explains why a coerced person can still be responsible if they endorse their coerced action at the reflective level.
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