Philosophy / Unit 4 Philosophy 0155 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Agent Causation
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The idea
Agent causation: the agent themselves—not prior events, not chance—causes the free choice. Persons are causes of a distinctive kind.
In practice
Chisholm called the free agent a prime mover unmoved: the chain starts with the person, full stop.
Where people slip
Critics ask what agent-causing amounts to beyond renaming the mystery—the view's cost is its obscurity.
Your place on the trail
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