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    Carmelics

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

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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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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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 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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