Instant Agents, Minutelings, and Radical Reversals

Abstract

Thought experiments about three kinds of agent—instant agents, minutelings, and radically reversed agents—are used in developing the book’s argument for an externalist view of moral responsibility. Instant agents come into being all at once as adult agents with full psychological profiles. Minutelings are instant agents who live only for a minute and perform a morally significant action. Radically reversed agents come in two general kinds: morally wonderful agents who are given a despicable collection of values overnight by manipulators, and despicable agents who are given a morally wonderful collection of values overnight by manipulators.