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    Therefore, Humean laws do not constrain agents from witho... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Even on a Humean view of laws, it does not automatically follow that humans have the freedom to have done otherwise given certain past states of affairs.

    Therefore, Humean laws do not constrain agents from without but are partly constituted by their actions, undercutting the claim that Humeanism leaves deterministic unfreedom intact.

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    1 reason for
    1 reason against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.If laws are constituted partly by actual agent actions, then laws depend on agents' choices rather than existing independently to constrain them.
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    • 2.When agents partly constitute the laws governing them, those laws reflect their own causal powers, making compliance expressive rather than coercive.
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    • 3.Humean laws lack the metaphysical force to determine outcomes; agents' decisions help shape what counts as lawful, preserving meaningful agency.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Even if laws are constituted by past actions, present and future agents still face fixed lawlike regularities they cannot alter, maintaining deterministic constraints.
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    • 2.Partial constitution of laws by some agents' actions does not liberate other agents from those same laws, which still determine their behavior externally.
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    • 3.Saying agents constitute laws only relocates the problem: if constituting actions were themselves determined, the resulting laws still leave no free alternative.
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    Key Terms

    Constituted by(describing what conditions would make something true)
    Made up of or determined by; in this case, what things would need to happen for something to count as true.
    David Hume(as referenced in the statement)
    An 18th-century Scottish philosopher who argued that our desires and emotions, not reason alone, drive our actions and decisions.
    Humean laws(philosophy of science and metaphysics)
    A theory about the laws of nature, named after philosopher David Hume, which says that laws are just patterns we observe in how things actually behave—not some invisible force that makes things happen.
    Humeanism(Lewis's Humean denial of necessary connections)
    The doctrine denying necessary connections between entirely distinct existences
    constrain agents from without(philosophy of action and free will)
    To limit or control what a person can do by applying force or rules from the outside, rather than from their own nature or choices.
    deterministic unfreedom(metaphysics and free will)
    The idea that if everything is determined by prior causes (determinism), then people have no genuine free will or control over their actions.

    Connections

    1 topic

    Free Will & Foreknowledge1 linked

    Related

    Even if laws are constituted by past actions, present and future agents still fa...Even on a Humean view of laws, it does not automatically follow that humans have...Humean laws lack the metaphysical force to determine outcomes; agents' decisions...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    If laws are constituted partly by actual agent actions, then laws depend on agen...
    +3 moreShow less
    Partial constitution of laws by some agents' actions does not liberate other age...Saying agents constitute laws only relocates the problem: if constituting action...When agents partly constitute the laws governing them, those laws reflect their ...