Avoidability, the ability of an agent to stop him or herself from doing something, is a necessary precondition for responsibility. It is important to note that there are two discrete senses of avoidability that must not be conflated. The first is hypothetical avoidability; to say that an act is avoidable is to say that if an actor had chosen to do otherwise, he would have done otherwise. The second is categorical avoidability; to say that an act is avoidable is to say that there were no preceding events sufficient for the execution of that act. In this response I will provide an example that better illustrates the difference between hypothetical and categorical avoidability, highlight the relation between the two notions and compatibilist versus …show more content…
Jack has had an ongoing property line dispute with his neighbor Brian. Because of the civil suit’s extremely slow and arduous litigation process and because of Jack’s growing irritability of what he perceives to be Brian’s blatant encroachment on his property, Jack makes the conscious decision to take make a point of his frustration to his neighbor. To do this Jack takes the backhoe out of his garage and proceeds to tear up the vast majority of Brian’s yard. This is an example of an action that was hypothetically avoidable. Jack, exercising complete autonomy, made the conscious decision to break the law and manifest his irritability on his neighbor’s lawn when he very well could have done otherwise. Now let us look a similar situation involving the same character Jack who, this time, is not necessarily self-determining. In this case the litigations regarding the property line dispute were extremely timely and noninvasive. Furthermore, Brian, upon hearing the court’s verdict, apologized profusely to Jack not conceiving that Jack could possibly have a right to the land. To ensure a future neighborly relationship Brian even offers to pay Jack’s legal fees, which inclines Jack to take a liking Brian. In this case the act of tearing up Brain’s yard was categorically avoidable not because of Jacks will, but rather because there was no antecedent condition sufficient to provoke Jack to act in such a