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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
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The belief that we are endowed with power to produce our own actions is a first principle

    ?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.The phenomenology of deliberation is compatible with determinism, as Hume argued: we deliberate because we are ignorant of causes, not because we are uncaused.
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    • 2.A belief that is psychologically necessary does not thereby track metaphysical reality, as even Reid concedes that some instinctive beliefs can mislead us about the external world.
      ?

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    • 3.If the compulsive deliberator under hypnotic suggestion experiences genuine deliberative phenomenology yet lacks libertarian freedom, phenomenology underdetermines the power Reid claims it establishes.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Derk Pereboom's 'hard incompatibilist' position shows that reactive attitudes and deliberative practices can be revised and retained without presupposing agent-causal power.
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    • 2.Reid's inference from 'deliberation presupposes belief in power' to 'we actually possess such power' commits a genetic fallacy: the evolutionary or social utility of a belief cannot vindicate its truth.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.We naturally and non-inferentially believe ourselves to be endowed with power to produce our own actions
      ?

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    • 2.Various activities in which we engage would make no sense if we did not believe ourselves to be endowed with power to produce our own actions
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    • 3.The activity of deliberating — weighing reasons for and against various possible actions — proceeds under the assumption that we have power to produce our own actions
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    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.