Ability and the Past

American Philosophical Quarterly 56 (4):397-406 (2019)
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Abstract

Two principles regarding agents' specific ability are proposed. The first claims that ordinary agents always lack the ability to do otherwise in the past, while the second principle observes that it is at least possible for some agent to have the ability to perform some action in the past. These two principles further give rise to three desiderata for a true account of ability. Two accounts of ability in the literature—the conditional analysis and the dispositional account—are then examined but they both fail to meet the desiderata simultaneously. A modal principle of ability is motivated at the end.

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Bokai Yao
Peking University

Citations of this work

Abilities, freedom, and inputs: a time traveller's tale.Olivia Coombes - 2023 - Dissertation, University of Edinburgh

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References found in this work

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Free Will Demystified: A Dispositional Account.Kadri Vihvelin - 2004 - Philosophical Topics 32 (1-2):427-450.
On Action.Carl Ginet - 1990 - Mind 100 (3):390-394.
Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility.John Martin Fischer - 1998 - Philosophical and Phenomenological Research 61 (2):459-466.

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