Lazy argument

Lazy argument

Argument

The lazy argument (ἀργὸς λόγος) is an attempt at undermining doctrines of fate.

The argument relies on a deterministic system (such as of the Stoics). It runs as such: why should we bother making decisions if the outcome is already fixed? For instance, when we feel sick, why should we call the doctor or do anything at all? The outcome is already fated. We will either recover or die and in a deterministic system one of these options has already been "chosen." We can subsequently conclude that we ought not do anything. For, whether we act in one way or another will do little to undermine the force of fate.

Refutation

The Stoic philosopher Chrysippus' refutation of the lazy argument is given in Cicero's On Fate ("De fato"). The argument presented by Cicero calls upon the idea that an event is "co-fated" with other events. As in the example above, if it is fated to recover from an illness, then the necessary steps to reach recovery are fated as well, and can be said to be co-fated along with this final event. So while recovery will occur, the steps to reach recovery must also occur (and will occur if it truly is one's fate).

The lazy argument seems to hold only if one neglects to consider the necessity of the occurrence of intermediate events related to a final and fated event. Yet this is unsound and the lazy argument must be rejected.

Consider this hypothetical argument. Say at a time T1 it is fated that I will pass my test at a time T2. The lazy argument would suggest that I would be just as justified to not study as I would be to study because I will pass the test at T2 "no matter what" (after all, it is fated). But while my passing of the test "is" fated, it is also dependent on my completion of a series of events between T1 and T2. If I do not complete these intermediate events, then I will not pass my test at T2.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Lazy evaluation — In computer programming, lazy evaluation (or delayed evaluation) is the technique of delaying a computation until such time as the result of the computation is known to be needed.The actions of lazy evaluation include: performance increases due… …   Wikipedia

  • Lazy Reason — is a pejorative name for a logical argument which holds that since all events are predestined, it is not necessary to carefully deliberate about one s actions. Determinism is the philosophical proposition that every event, including human… …   Wikipedia

  • Lazy Sunday (song) — Single infobox Name = Lazy Sunday Artist = Small Faces from Album = Ogdens Nut Gone Flake B side = Rollin Over Released = April 5 1968 march 20 (Re released 1976) Format = 7 Recorded = Olympic Studios, London, England 1968 Genre = Beat London… …   Wikipedia

  • Evaluation strategy — Evaluation strategies Strict evaluation Applicative order Call by value Call by reference Call by sharing Call by copy restore Non strict evaluation Normal order Call by name Call by need/Lazy evaluation …   Wikipedia

  • Functional programming — In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data. It emphasizes the application of functions, in contrast with the… …   Wikipedia

  • Monad (functional programming) — In functional programming, a monad is a programming structure that represents computations. Monads are a kind of abstract data type constructor that encapsulate program logic instead of data in the domain model. A defined monad allows the… …   Wikipedia

  • Lambda calculus — In mathematical logic and computer science, lambda calculus, also written as λ calculus, is a formal system designed to investigate function definition, function application and recursion. It was introduced by Alonzo Church and Stephen Cole… …   Wikipedia

  • Futures and promises — In computer science, future, promise, and delay refer to constructs used for synchronization in some concurrent programming languages. They describe an object that acts as a proxy for a result that is initially not known, usually because the… …   Wikipedia

  • Quark Framework — CAL Paradigm(s) functional, non strict, modular Appeared in 2004 Designed by Luke Evans, Bo Ilic (Business Objects) Typing discipline static, strong …   Wikipedia

  • Wait/walk dilemma — The Wait/walk dilemma occurs when waiting for a bus at a bus stop, when the duration of the wait may exceed the time needed to arrive at a destination by another means, especially walking. The dilemma has been studied in an unpublished report… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”