A note on means-end reasoning: knowledge, reasons and fate

Asian Journal of Philosophy 1 (2):1-4 (2022)
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Abstract

In this note, I argue that knowledge of an action’s effect undermines an agent’s reason to act. This undermining occurs in some cases of bringing about the past, but also in some cases of forwards causation. I consider the suggestion that it is not knowledge but truth that undermines reasons to act, giving rise to the spectre of fatalism. Thankfully, this spectre can be banished.

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References found in this work

The Paradoxes of Time Travel.David K. Lewis - 1976 - American Philosophical Quarterly 13 (2):145-152.
Bringing about the past.Michael Dummett - 1964 - Philosophical Review 73 (3):338-359.
Why Cannot an Effect Precede its Cause.Max Black - 1955 - Analysis 16 (3):49-58.
Fatalism.Hugh Rice - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
On Backwards Causation.Brian Garrett - 2021 - Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 77 (4):1209-1212.

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