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    If 'able to do otherwise' means possessing the relevant s... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The incompatibilist position is correct: if determinism is true, agents never have the ability to choose or do otherwise than what they actually do

    If 'able to do otherwise' means possessing the relevant skill-based disposition rather than accessing an indeterministic branch, determinism does not eliminate such abilities.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Ability to do otherwise tracks practical capacity (skill, knowledge, absence of constraint), which determinism preserves regardless of causal history.
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    • 2.Our ordinary concept of 'ability' concerns what agents can accomplish given their dispositions, not metaphysical access to uncaused branches.
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    • 3.A chess player's ability to move the knight exists deterministically if they possess the skill and face no obstacles, matching how we actually evaluate abilities.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Dispositions themselves have deterministic causes; grounding 'could have done otherwise' in dispositions merely relocates the problem, not solves it.
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    • 2.A skill-based ability in a deterministic world entails only one possible future action; 'able to do X' implies X was genuinely possible—not just what would happen if conditions differed.
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    • 3.The intuitive meaning of moral responsibility requires alternatives actually available at the moment of choice, not counterfactual performance under modified circumstances.
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    Free Will & Foreknowledge1 linkedMoral Responsibility1 linked

    Related

    A chess player's ability to move the knight exists deterministically if they pos...A skill-based ability in a deterministic world entails only one possible future ...Ability to do otherwise tracks practical capacity (skill, knowledge, absence of ...Dispositions themselves have deterministic causes; grounding 'could have done ot...
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    Our ordinary concept of 'ability' concerns what agents can accomplish given thei...The incompatibilist position is correct: if determinism is true, agents never ha...The intuitive meaning of moral responsibility requires alternatives actually ava...

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    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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