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    Sisyphean and tragic moral traditions (e.g., Camus, Berna... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→If the realization of the highest good is not possible, then we cannot rationally promote the highest good as an end

    Sisyphean and tragic moral traditions (e.g., Camus, Bernard Williams) hold that an agent can be rationally and morally committed to ends known to be unrealizable.

    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Moral worth can inhere in the struggle itself, independent of success outcomes, making unrealizable commitments rationally justified.
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    • 2.Rationality permits non-instrumental pursuits of intrinsic goods; unrealizable moral ends can be intrinsically valuable regardless of achievement.
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    • 3.Agents demonstrably do commit to impossible goals (justice, unconditional love) while maintaining rational deliberation, suggesting this is coherent.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Rational agents must form intentions based on beliefs about achievability; commitment to known impossibility violates practical rationality constraints.
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    • 2.If an end is unrealizable, directing resources toward it is instrumentally irrational; framing it as 'moral commitment' doesn't change this fact.
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    • 3.Meaningful moral agency requires realistic hope; commitment without achievability prospects collapses into performative absurdity or self-deception.
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    Modality & Possibility1 linkedMoral Responsibility1 linked

    Related

    Agents demonstrably do commit to impossible goals (justice, unconditional love) ...If an end is unrealizable, directing resources toward it is instrumentally irrat...If the realization of the highest good is not possible, then we cannot rationall...Meaningful moral agency requires realistic hope; commitment without achievabilit...
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    Moral worth can inhere in the struggle itself, independent of success outcomes, ...Rational agents must form intentions based on beliefs about achievability; commi...Rationality permits non-instrumental pursuits of intrinsic goods; unrealizable m...

    Details

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