Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    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 Therefore, the conditional 'had I chosen otherwise, the laws would differ' is not a bizarre law-breaking power but a trivial consequence of Humeanism itself, as Lewis argued in 'Are We Free to Break the Laws?'

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

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Even if laws are regularities, they seem to constrain what happens; saying laws would differ trivializes their explanatory role.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.The claim conflates metaphysical possibility (laws could differ) with freedom (I could have broken them), obscuring what free will requires.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.If my choice determines the laws retrospectively, the notion that laws explain my behavior becomes circular or explanatorily hollow.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Humeanism defines laws as regularities in actual events, not metaphysical necessities independent of what happens.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.If laws are patterns of actual events, then counterfactual scenarios with different choices entail different event-patterns and thus different laws.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.This makes free counterfactuals compatible with determinism without requiring agent-caused law-breaking powers.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.