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    The dependence point alone does not show that the hard pa... — Carmelics
    Home/Free Will & Foreknowledge
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    The dependence point alone does not show that the hard past isn't fixed.

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

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.The fixity of the past is itself a modal claim that requires independent justification beyond mere temporal precedence.
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    • 2.David Lewis's conditional analysis shows 'can act otherwise' need not entail changing the past, only that a different possible world with that action is accessible.
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    • 3.If fixity of the past cannot be established without presupposing the falsity of libertarian freedom, the objection is equally question-begging.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Soft facts about the past, as established by Marilyn Adams, are logically dependent on future contingents and thus not genuinely fixed in the relevant sense.
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    • 2.The dependence point identifies a structural feature of soft facts that undermines the premise that all past truths are equally fixed, shifting the burden of proof to the compatibilist about fixity.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Showing that the hard past isn't fixed would require that the agent upon whose action the past depends really can act otherwise.
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    • 2.The claim that the agent can act otherwise is simply asserted rather than argued by proponents of the dependence point.
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    • 3.Whether the agent can act otherwise is the very point at issue, so simply assuming it begs the question.
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    Free Will & Foreknowledge

    Related

    David Lewis's conditional analysis shows 'can act otherwise' need not entail cha...If fixity of the past cannot be established without presupposing the falsity of ...Showing that the hard past isn't fixed would require that the agent upon whose a...Soft facts about the past, as established by Marilyn Adams, are logically depend...
    +4 moreShow less
    The claim that the agent can act otherwise is simply asserted rather than argued...The dependence point identifies a structural feature of soft facts that undermin...The fixity of the past is itself a modal claim that requires independent justifi...Whether the agent can act otherwise is the very point at issue, so simply assumi...

    Similar

    Showing that the hard past isn't fixed would require that the agent up...81%Causal dependence is the best model for understanding how God can fore...73%What's fixed isn't the past in toto, but so much of the past as isn't ...71%Truths about the past are necessary — they cannot be other than they a...71%

    Source

    AI-extracted
    SEP: free-will-foreknowledge
    View source passageHide passage
    Fischer and Tognazzini (2014), in a response to Merricks (2009, 2011), McCall (2011), and Westphal (2011), ask how the dependence point alone shows that the hard past isn’t fixed. That would require that the agent upon whose action the past depends really can act otherwise, and this is just asserted rather than argued. After all, this is the very point at issue, so simply assuming it is to beg the question. Cyr and Law (forthcoming) defend the dialectical appropriateness of the assumption that doing and refraining are both open to the agent.

    Details

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