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    Performing an act at some possible world is both necessar... — Carmelics
    Home/Modality & Possibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Performing an act at some possible world is both necessary and sufficient for having the ability to perform that act.

    Modality & Possibility
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Modal analysis (MA) holds that ability is defined in terms of performance across possible worlds.
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    • 2.If an agent performs an act at some possible world, the agent has the ability to perform that act.
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    • 3.If an agent has the ability to perform an act, the agent performs that act at some possible world.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.An agent may perform an act at a possible world by pure luck or accident, without possessing any stable disposition grounding that performance.
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    • 2.Genuine ability requires a reliable causal basis in the agent—not merely that the act occurs somewhere across modal space.
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    • 3.Therefore, possible-world performance is insufficient for ability, since accidental success at a world lacks the dispositional structure ability demands.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Frankfurt-style cases show that an agent can be unable to do otherwise yet still acts, meaning ability and possible-world performance can come apart under manipulation.
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    • 2.If an intervening mechanism would have ensured the act regardless of the agent's own capacities, the agent's performance at that world does not reflect their ability.
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    • 3.Thus, possible-world performance is not sufficient for ability because external counterfactual guarantors can produce the act independently of what the agent can do.
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    Topics

    Modality & Possibility

    Related

    An agent may perform an act at a possible world by pure luck or accident, withou...Frankfurt-style cases show that an agent can be unable to do otherwise yet still...Genuine ability requires a reliable causal basis in the agent—not merely that th...If an agent has the ability to perform an act, the agent performs that act at so...
    +5 moreShow less
    If an agent performs an act at some possible world, the agent has the ability to...If an intervening mechanism would have ensured the act regardless of the agent's...Modal analysis (MA) holds that ability is defined in terms of performance across...Therefore, possible-world performance is insufficient for ability, since acciden...Thus, possible-world performance is not sufficient for ability because external ...

    Similar

    Performing an act at some possible world is not necessary for having t...94%If an agent performs an act at some possible world, the agent has the ...82%If an agent has the ability to perform an act, the agent performs that...81%Relations among acts are necessary facts for any being who acts or con...80%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: abilities
    View source passageHide passage
    According to (MA), performing an act at some possible world (or set of worlds) is both necessary and sufficient for having the ability to perform that act. One way of challenging this claim is to deny the necessity claim: that is, to argue that it is sometimes the case that an agent is able to perform an act that she does not perform at any possible world.
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit