Agents Abilities: 83 (Philosophical Analysis, 83)

248 Pages·2020·1.488 MB·English

by  Romy Jaster

Romy Jaster
Agents’ Abilities
Philosophical Analysis
Edited by
Katherine Dormandy, Rafael Hüntelmann,
Christian Kanzian, Uwe Meixner, Richard Schantz
and Erwin Tegtmeier
Volume 83
Romy Jaster
Agents’ Abilities
ISBN 978-3-11-064827-0
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-065046-4
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-064865-2
ISSN 2627-227X
DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110650464
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives
4.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
The Open Access book is available at www.degruyter.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020932563
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
www.degruyter.com
Thereisnosuchthingasa‘self-made’[wo]man.Wearemadeupofthousandsof
others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us,or spoken one word of
encouragementtous,hasenteredintothemake-upofourcharacterandofour
thoughts, as well as our success.
(George Matthew Adams)

Acknowledgements
Themanuscriptforthisbookwasfinishedalongtimebeforethebookeventually
cameout.ForcarryingmethroughthedarkpassageinbetweenIwanttothank
the Gorgonzola Club; my dearest friends Sanja Dembić, Philip Faigle, Simon
Gaus, Kathrin Hasenburger, Jan Hempelmann, and Christian Kobsda.You were
an army.
IalsowanttothankSimonGausandMaxSeegerfortirelesslydiscussingthe
argumentsinthisbookwithmeandforjoiningmeinthinkingmoreaboutabil-
ities than any sane person should.
ThankstoBarbaraVetter,whosebrainIwouldsometimesliketoborrow;to
Christian Nimtz,whoisthankfullynevercontentbeforethingsareexactlyright;
toGeertKeil,whohasbeenanextraordinarilybenevolentandthoroughcriticof
the success view; and to everyone who has given me any kind of feedback
throughout the last few years.
This book is for my mom and for the djuns.

Contents
Introduction 1
 Methodology 16
. Adequacy condition 1: Extensional adequacy 17
. Adequacy condition 2: General and specific abilities 19
. Adequacy condition 3: Degrees and context sensitivity 23
. Adequacy condition 4: Agentive vs. non-agentive abilities 28
. Explanatory challenge 1: Abilities and counterfactuals 30
. Explanatory challenge 2: Abilities and dispositions 32
. Explanatory challenge 3: Abilities and “can” statements 34
. Upshot 36
 The simple conditional analysis 38
. Modal semantics: Counterfactuals 40
. Extensional inadequacy I: Masks 44
. Extensional inadequacy II: Impeded intentions 49
. The problem with general and specific abilities 52
. The problem with degrees and context sensitivity 55
. The problem with non-agentive abilities 58
. Upshot 60
 Possibilism 63
. Modal semantics: Restricted possibility 64
. Possibilism: The details 68
. Upsides & downsides I – General vs. specific abilities &
masks 72
. Upsides and downsides II – Impeded intentions, agentive vs. non-
agentiveabilities, and other possibilities 77
. The problem with degrees and context sensitivity 81
. A formal problem 84
. Upshot 88
 The success view I – Agentive abilities 92
. The general framework 94
. The proper motivational state 100
. An account of degrees and context sensitivity 103
. Impeded intentions and the existential requirement 108
. An account of general and specific abilities 112
.. General abilities 115
X Contents
.. Specific abilities 116
.. Dependence 121
.. Success and failure 124
.. Degrees of specificity 126
.. Hypothetical circumstances 128
. Masks 135
. Formal considerations revisited 137
. Finks and other unintentional abilities 140
. Impairments by ignorance 146
. Upshot 150
 The success view II – Non‐agentive abilities 154
. The success view for non-agentiveabilities 155
. Degrees and the distinction between general and specific
abilities 157
. The broader scheme: the success view of abilities tout
court 159
. Abilities and dispositions 162
. The normativity of abilities 168
. The existential requirement revisited 170
. Proportions among infinite sets 173
. A brief reflection on the explanatory challenges 176
. Upshot 177
 The success view situated 180
. Success 1.0 185
. The sophisticated conditional analysis 188
. Possibilism+ 199
. An option-based account 205
. Upshot 212
 The success view applied – Two rough sketches 214
. A paradox about time travel revisited 215
. Alternate possibilities contextualism about freedom 218
Resumé and an open question 225
References 229
Index of Names 234
Index of subjects 236