All-In Abilities in Context

This chapter considers a significant challenge, initially raised in chapter one, that of showing why attributions of all-in abilities are not invariant. This is crucial to the wider project of showing why a contextualist analysis of agential modals has significant implications for both freedom and moral responsibility, since it is highly plausible to think that our attributions of freedom and moral responsibility concern these all-in abilities. The chapter begins by arguing that the notions which comprise the characterizations of an all-in ability should be understood contextually. After answering an objection to the proposed argument for a contextualist account of all-in abilities, semantic evidence in favour of the view is then offered. The chapter ends by discussing the wider philosophical significance of a contextualist account of agential modals which embraces all-in abilities.