Yuqi Liang (Corpus Christi): 'Causally Discounting the Future'
Abstract: Our actions have a myriad of consequences. Some of these are in the near future, while others can be aeons into the far future. Do they matter equally to the question of what we should do, now? In this talk, I will present a novel way of causally discounting the future. I first argue that in general, our actions make a smaller causal contribution to outcomes in the far future than to those in the near future. I then propose that the strength of our reason for action is proportional to the action’s degree of causal contribution to its outcomes. Thus, in general, the strength of our reason for action diminishes with time. Finally, I explore the practical applications of causal discounting and its advantages over the existing answers and defend it against some objections.
