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And Consequentialism : an Account of Options University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2008 'Can' and consequentialism : an account of options. Edward Lee Abrams University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Abrams, Edward Lee, "'Can' and consequentialism : an account of options." (2008). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 2430. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/2430 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/canconsequentialOOabra This is an authorized facsimile, made from the microfilm master copy of the original dissertation or master thesis published by UMI. The bibliographic information for this thesis is contained in UMI's Dissertation Abstracts database, the only central source for accessing almost every doctoral dissertation accepted in North America since 1861. T TA J T Dissertation LJ1VL1 Services From:Pro£vuest AZPANY 300 North Zeeb Road P O Box 1 346 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1346 USA 800 521 0600 734 761 4700 web www 1 1 proquest com ‘CAN’ AND CONSEQUENTIALISM: AN ACCOUNT OF OPTIONS A Dissertation Presented by EDWARD LEE ABRAMS Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2008 Philosophy UMI Number: 3336967 Copyright 2008 by Abrams, Edward Lee All rights reserved INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3336967 Copyright2009 by ProQuest LLC All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Edward Lee Abrams 2008 All Rights Reserved ‘CAN’ AND CONSEQUENT!ALISM: AN ACCOUNT OF OPTIONS A Dissertation Presented by EDWARD LEE ABRAMS Approved as to style and content by: Phillip Bricker, Chair Fred Feldman, Member Pete Graham, Member Christopher Potts, Member Phillip Bricker, Department Head Philosophy ‘CAN’ AND CONSEQUENTIALISM: AN ACCOUNT OF OPTIONS A Dissertation Presented by EDWARD LEE ABRAMS Approved as to style and content by: Phillip Bricker, Chair Pete Graham, Member Philosophy ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am thankful to have had the chance to work on digitizing early modern women philosophers’ works with such an energetic, supportive and enthusiastic person as Eileen O’Neill, and to have had the chance to work with Gareth Matthews on his projects regarding philosophy and children. 1 am very much in debt to Barbara Partee, who expressed genuine interest in my work and offered to help me in many ways over these many years. 1 worked with Bruce Aune, Ann Ferguson and Lynne Baker on topics ranging from feminism to philosophv of religion — my education was deeper and broader for their influence. Vere Chappell re-introduced me to the problem of freedom and determinism. His course on action theory and close work with me on my early papers were invaluable and inspired the ideas that would eventually become this dissertation. Fred Feldman helped me understand the value of smiplicity and clantv. His teaching has been a real inspiration and his insights into ethics have provided me with the lion’s share of my “ah-ha!” moments over the past several years. I had a lot of fun and learned an incredible amount about philosophy in his courses and in our conversations. The most patient, encouraging and intellectually challenging force in my education over the past decade has been Phil Bncker. I developed the central ideas of my dissertation in his courses and have spent years re lining them. His attention to detail and demand for crisp, cogent formulations of my positions forced me to understand my own views and improve my ability to express them. Many thanks to every member of the department and especially to my committee. IV ABSTRACT ‘CAN’ AND CONSEQUENTIALISM: AN ACCOUNT OF OPTIONS SEPTEMBER 2008 EDWARD LEE ABRAMS, B.A., POMONA COLLEGE M.A., NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Phillip Bricker 1 am confronted with choices every day. In many cases, 1 have to make a decision as to which of several options I will pick. Generally, it seems to me as though I am free with respect to this choice. In many cases, the choice is genuinely morally important. These thoughts call to mind two interesting philosophical problems. The fust is the problem of freedom and determinism. How can we be free in a world that seems to be governed by physical laws that entail how our bodies, brains and environment will change over time? The second is the problem of how we understand the notion of an alternative action. The ethical theories that fascinate me the most are those according to which the moral status of an action is dependent not only on the nature of that action, but also on the natures of the actions that I could have performed instead. Which of the myriad of unperformed actions count as my options, and how are these options evaluated in the context of an ethical theory? My approach to addressing these problems is to offer a general account of ‘can’ that works as an account specifically of the ‘can’ of agent powr er. After reviewing the relatively it diverse literature on power and ‘can,’ 1 present my view and argue that solves many interesting puzzles and has advantages over the accounts 1 have criticized. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv ABSTRACT v LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM OF OPTIONS 1 I. The puzzles and problems 1 II. Assumptions 1 1 3. 2. CLASSICAL ACT-UTILITARIANISM AND WORLD UTLITARIANISM 17 I. Introduction 1 7 II. Classical act-utilitarianism presented 20 III. Puzzles for classical act-utilitarianism 31 IV. World utilitarianism presented 48 V. Puzzles for utilitarian views 73 EXISTING ACCOUNTS OF ‘CAN’ 79 I. Constraints on a Reasonable Account of "Can’ 79 II. Conditional accounts of ‘can' 82 III. Lehrer's account of ‘can' 97 IV. Unger's and Hawthorne's accounts of moral terms and freedom 117 V. Conclusion 126 4. FRAMEWORK FOR AN ACCOUNT OF ‘CAN' 127 I. Kratzer and the ‘can’ of general permission and ability 127 II. The ‘can' of agent power 130 III. My account of power 137 IV. World scope and partitions 148 V. Inconsistent context sets, redux 156 VI. Solutions to Manipulous and the problem of indeterminate consequences 162 VII. Conclusion: Flexibility, accommodation and plausibility 164 5. TRUTH-CONDITIONS AND PRINCIPLES FOR THE FRAMEWORK 167 I. Lewis and Elusive Knowledge: Rules for proper ignoring 168 vi II. Power ‘can' and agent power - what I and my counterparts must share 171 III. Scoping rules 186 IV. Partitioning rules 189 V. Applying the rules 190 VI. Conclusion 196 6. CONCLUSION 199 BIBLIOGRAPHY 204 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Fig. 1: Manipulous' choices 32 Fig. 2: Branching worlds 58 Fig. 3: Manipulous' options partition 162 viii CHAPTER 1 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROBLEM OF OPTIONS I. The puzzles and problems Could Garry Kasparov, the highest-rated human chess player in the world, have beaten Deep Blue, the highest-rated computer chess player in the world, in the last game of the second match in their famous human vs. computer chess challenge? As of the last move of the game, no. By that point, Kasparov had committed such an egregious blunder that all roads to victory were closed. But what should we say about his chances of victor}7 as of the first move of the game? Kasparov’s knowledge of the game of chess is deep and his cleverness at maneuvering in a position is unparalleled. In fact, even in many of the games he lost to Deep Blue, Kasparov later found during analysis that at some point during the 7 game, victory was possible for him — performance anxiety , time trouble and other factors had gotten in the way of his seeing his way to a win. Since Kasparov had beaten Deep Blue before on numerous occasions and had in fact beaten it in their first match by a fairly substantial margin, it seems appropriate to say that Kasparov could have beaten it again, as of the first move of the game. Or perhaps we should say that Kasparov could have beaten Deep Blue even after he had committed his blunder. v\fter all, computers are prone to making unusual mistakes when playing a complicated game of chess as Deep Blue had in fact showed time and time again during their two matches. One such mistake could have turned the game around for Kasparov. Though a mistake of this magnitude would admittedly be rare, especially when 1 As of the beginning of the year 2001 Kasparov subsequently lost the title of World Champion to Kramnik. He remained, however, the highest-rated human chess player and holds that record still in his retirement 1 the computer was winning by such a substantial margin, certainly it was still possible. And if it was still possible, then perhaps Kasparov could still have won.
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