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If agent causation is the correct account, then belief-de... — Carmelics

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Challenges→Behavior caused by beliefs and desires is necessary but not sufficient for that behavior to count as action.

If agent causation is the correct account, then belief-desire causation is not even necessary for action, since the agent can initiate action without being caused to do so by prior mental events.

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1 reason against

Reasons For

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Reason for

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1.Agent causation posits agents as irreducible causal powers that can initiate causal chains without being determined by prior events.
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2.If agents possess genuine causal powers, then actions need not be fully explained by antecedent mental states like beliefs and desires.
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3.Belief-desire explanations describe motivations, not necessitating conditions; agent causation provides the actual causal mechanism.
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Reasons Against

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Reason against

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1.Without belief-desire causation, agent causation becomes inexplicable: why did the agent act one way rather than another?
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2.Agents themselves are constituted by their mental states; divorcing agency from beliefs/desires makes 'agent causation' vacuous.
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3.If agents can act without any prior mental cause, their actions become arbitrary and unpredictable, undermining rational agency itself.
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Key Terms

Agent causation(Emphasized in Aquinas's later work, per Montagnes): The active transmission of properties from God to creatures.
Belief-desire causation(theory of motivation and action): The common-sense explanation that people act because their beliefs and desires cause them to—for example, you go to the fridge because you believe it contains food and you desire to eat.
Initiate action(discussion of free will): To be the starting point or originator of something you do, rather than having that action be forced or caused by something else.
Prior mental events(explanation of action and causation): Thoughts, feelings, or desires that happen in your mind before you act—essentially, the mental causes that would normally explain why you do something.

Connections

2 topics

Consciousness & Mind1 linked Moral Responsibility1 linked

Related

Agent causation posits agents as irreducible causal powers that can initiate cau...Agents themselves are constituted by their mental states; divorcing agency from ...Behavior caused by beliefs and desires is necessary but not sufficient for that ...Belief-desire explanations describe motivations, not necessitating conditions; a...

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If agents can act without any prior mental cause, their actions become arbitrary...If agents possess genuine causal powers, then actions need not be fully explaine...

Details

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

Without belief-desire causation, agent causation becomes inexplicable: why did t...