Term
| Distant Causation Argument |
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Definition
Untouchable facts: Facts that no human in history could have done anything about. Van-Inwagan's infernal principle: suppose its an untouchable fact that p and that it is also untouchable fact that if p, then q. Then it is an untouchable fact that q. For instance, things were thus-and-so ten million years ago (p). If things were thus and so ten million years ago, then I am now taking this exam. (If p, q) I'm now taking this exam (q). |
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Term
| Distant Causation Argument's Impact On Free Will |
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Definition
Pessimism Shows free will is an illusion: the fact that you think you have free will was determined at the beginning of the universe, or before. |
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Term
| Roderick Chisolm's Position: Agent-Causation |
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Definition
• Chisholm’s stance on free Will. Libertarianism/agent causation
o Agent-causation: occurs when an agent “directly” causes something to happen. Then the outcome isn’t necessitated by prior events but isn’t random either
o Human is the originator in the causal chain
o Supernatural theories hold that a non-physical mind or soul overrides physical causality, so that physical events in the brain that lead to the performance of actions do not have an entirely physical explanation. This approach is allied to mind-body dualism, and sometimes has a theological motivation.
o He argued that free will is incompatible with determinism, and believed that we do act freely; this combination of views is known as libertarianism
o If an act has no cause at all (i.e., is the result of random chance), it makes no sense to hold someone morally responsible for it.
o If an act was caused by a prior event (which was in turn caused by a prior event, etc., i.e., was caused by something outside the agent’s control), we shouldn’t hold the agent responsible for it.
o So, to explain free will without adopting indeterminism, Chisholm claims that free acts are not uncaused, but are caused by “agents,” and not (solely) by previous events.
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Term
| Advantages/Disadvantages of Chisolms's argument |
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Definition
• Advantages and Disadvantages
o Ads: Morality seems to depend on it, we seem to experience freedom, we can act out of character
o Disads: Strawson- Whatever the agent-self decided, it decides as it does because of the overall way it is: and this necessary truth returns us to where we started
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Term
| Argument From Marginal Cases |
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Definition
• Argument from Marginal Cases
o There are some humans who don’t possess x.
o So animals are on par with these humans vis-à-vis x
o So either (a) it is not morally permissible to do as we wish with animals, or else (b) it is morally permissible to do as we wish with these humans
o (b) is wrong
o Therefore, it is not morally permissible to do as we wish with animals
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Term
| Is Rowland's assessment of the argument correct? |
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Definition
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Term
Speciesism and Moral Questions |
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Definition
o Speciesism involves assigning different values or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership
o all animals have inherent rights and that we cannot assign them a lesser value because of a perceived lack of rationality, while assigning a higher value to infants and the mentally impaired solely on the grounds of being members of a certain species
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