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    Frankfurt-style cases show that an agent can be unable to... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Performing an act at some possible world is both necessary and sufficient for having the ability to perform that act.

    Frankfurt-style cases show that an agent can be unable to do otherwise yet still acts, meaning ability and possible-world performance can come apart under manipulation.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Frankfurt cases isolate inability from wrongdoing: an agent acts badly despite having no alternative, suggesting moral responsibility doesn't require alternative possibilities.
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    • 2.Manipulative scenarios reveal our actual moral intuitions: we blame the manipulated agent for their action, not for lacking alternatives, supporting Frankfurt's conclusion.
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    • 3.Modal facts (what's possible) and causal facts (what actually happens) are metaphysically distinct; manipulation can alter possibilities without changing what the agent does.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Frankfurt's device cases are metaphysically incoherent: a counterfactual intervener that monitors and perfectly predicts decisions seems to require backwards causation or violations of determinism.
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    • 2.Even if an agent acts the same way, the relevant ability question is whether they could have done otherwise *given the actual causal history*, not just possible-world variants.
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    • 3.Blaming an agent who literally cannot do otherwise conflates holding responsible with deserving blame; responsibility may require actual alternatives as a fair precondition.
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    Connections

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    Modality & Possibility1 linked

    Related

    Blaming an agent who literally cannot do otherwise conflates holding responsible...Even if an agent acts the same way, the relevant ability question is whether the...Frankfurt cases isolate inability from wrongdoing: an agent acts badly despite h...Frankfurt's device cases are metaphysically incoherent: a counterfactual interve...
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    Manipulative scenarios reveal our actual moral intuitions: we blame the manipula...Modal facts (what's possible) and causal facts (what actually happens) are metap...Performing an act at some possible world is both necessary and sufficient for ha...

    Details

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