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    If rational choice is defined by conformity to what will ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Rational beings ought to choose in accordance with what will in fact happen, when they can know what that will be.

    If rational choice is defined by conformity to what will happen, deliberation becomes superfluous, undermining the very agency that makes choice rational.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Agency requires the ability to make choices that could have gone otherwise; if outcomes are predetermined, alternatives are illusory.
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    • 2.Deliberation is only meaningful when it can causally influence outcomes; conformity to inevitable events removes this causal efficacy.
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    • 3.Rational choice assumes the chooser's reasoning matters; defining it by conformity to what will happen makes reasoning epiphenomenal.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Deliberation can be rational even if it reliably produces predetermined outcomes; the process matters independently of its causal novelty.
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    • 2.Defining rationality by conformity to outcomes doesn't assume determinism—it's compatible with choices that remain causally efficacious.
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    • 3.Agency requires competent reasoning, not metaphysical openness; deliberation demonstrates this competence even within constrained circumstances.
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    Consequentialism1 linkedMoral Responsibility1 linked

    Related

    Agency requires competent reasoning, not metaphysical openness; deliberation dem...Agency requires the ability to make choices that could have gone otherwise; if o...Defining rationality by conformity to outcomes doesn't assume determinism—it's c...Deliberation can be rational even if it reliably produces predetermined outcomes...
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    Deliberation is only meaningful when it can causally influence outcomes; conform...Rational beings ought to choose in accordance with what will in fact happen, whe...Rational choice assumes the chooser's reasoning matters; defining it by conformi...

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