Steward, H orcid.org/0000-0003-1654-577X (2020) I—The Presidential Address: Free Will and External Reality: Two Scepticisms Compared. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 120 (1). pp. 1-20. ISSN 0066-7374
Abstract
This paper considers the analogies and disanalogies between a certain sort of argument designed to oppose scepticism about free will (in the sense of genuine agency) and a certain sort of argument designed to oppose scepticism about the external world. In the case of free will, I offer the ancient Lazy Argument and an argument of my own, which I call the Agency Argument, as examples of the relevant genre; and in the case of the external world, I consider Moore’s alleged proof of an external world. I draw attention to analogies and disanalogies between the arguments offered in each case in order to suggest that although the Agency Argument shares with its Moorean relative the unfortunate property of being dialectically ineffective against some of those it is mainly hoping to convince, it will not be dialectically ineffective against all of them. It is also argued that the Agency Argument is less vulnerable than Moore’s proof to worries about its justificatory structure.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Aristotelian Society, This is an author produced version of a conference paper published in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > School of Philosophy (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 15 Jan 2020 12:25 |
Last Modified: | 27 Apr 2022 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/arisoc/aoaa001 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:155646 |