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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
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that To rationally choose any action, an agent must regard themselves as valuable.

    ?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.Kant's moral agent acts from duty to the categorical imperative, not from any valuation of personal benefit or self-regard.
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    • 2.An agent who acts solely because the maxim of their action is universalizable need not presuppose their own value—only the law's validity.
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    • 3.Therefore, rational action grounded in pure practical reason requires no self-valuation, only respect for the moral law itself.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
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    • 1.Buddhist ethics, as articulated by Śāntideva in the Bodhicaryāvatāra, holds that the self is a conceptual fiction without intrinsic value.
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    • 2.An agent who has correctly recognized the emptiness of selfhood can still rationally choose compassionate actions directed entirely at the welfare of others.
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    • 3.If rational choice is possible precisely through the dissolution of self-regard rather than its affirmation, self-valuation is not a necessary condition for rational agency.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.To rationally choose an action, the agent must regard that action as good in some way.
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    • 2.An action can be regarded as good because it benefits the agent or satisfies a genuine need or desire of the agent.
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    • 3.Regarding something as good because it benefits the agent presupposes that the agent values themselves.
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    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.