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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that The distinction between intended and unintended consequences is a feature within rationalist social theory, not a criterion for departing from it—as Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith both demonstrated.

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.If consequences are unintended, the rational actor model—which assumes agents know and pursue their goals—has fundamentally broken down.
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    • 2.Ferguson and Smith actually identified limits of rationalist explanation, suggesting emergent social orders exceed what individual rationality predicts.
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    • 3.Invoking unintended consequences as a rationalist feature risks making the theory unfalsifiable by explaining away any deviation as 'rational aggregation.'
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Smith's invisible hand and Ferguson's unintended consequences both operate within rational actor frameworks, not departures from them.
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    • 2.Rationalist theory can accommodate how individual rational choices aggregate into systemic patterns no single actor intended.
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    • 3.Distinguishing intended from unintended effects helps rationalists explain market efficiency without requiring centralized design or omniscience.
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