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    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

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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 Making an action unavoidable is not the same thing as bringing it about that the action is performed.

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

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.On a Humean regularity or counterfactual dependence account of causation, to bring it about that X occurs just is to be part of the sufficient causal nexus that makes X unavoidable.
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    • 2.If causal production just consists in the relevant counterfactual and nomological dependencies, then making an action unavoidable through those very dependencies is indistinguishable from bringing it about.
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    • 3.Frankfurt's distinction therefore presupposes a non-Humean notion of agent causation that itself stands in need of defense before the claim can do theoretical work.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.If a neuroscientist directly stimulates a brain region such that a bodily movement inevitably follows, she has both made it unavoidable and brought it about.
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    • 2.Frankfurt's distinction collapses in cases of direct physical intervention, revealing that unavoidability and causal production are not categorically distinct.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.While determinism may make an agent's action unavoidable, it does not follow that the agent acts as he does only because determinism is true.
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    • 2.It may also be true that the agent acts as he does because he wants to and because he sees reasons in favor of so acting.
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    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.