Stoic News

By Dave Kelly

Saturday, December 20, 2025

WHAT IS GOING ON IN RATIONAL AGENCY (STEP BY STEP)

 

WHAT IS GOING ON IN RATIONAL AGENCY (STEP BY STEP)


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Below is a philosophical, step-by-step account of what is occurring in rational agency, stated ontologically and normatively, not as a technique, psychology, or training method. This is a descriptive anatomy of agency as such.


STEP 1 — AN IMPRESSION OCCURS 

(Ontological givenness) 

Something appears to the agent: 

a situation, a claim, a pressure, a feeling with propositional content, a possible course of action


STEP 2 — THE PAUSE OPENS 

(Suspension of automatic assent) 

Between impression and judgment, a gap is present.



STEP 3 — OWNERSHIP OF JUDGMENT 

(Substance Dualism in act) 

Within the pause, the agent recognizes: 

“Whether this appearance is affirmed or rejected depends on me.”



STEP 4 — OPEN ALTERNATIVES 

(Libertarian freedom made explicit) 

Multiple live possibilities are present: 

assent, refusal, suspension, silence



STEP 5 — DIRECT RECOGNITION 

(Ethical Intuitionism) 

The agent apprehends, immediately and non-inferentially: 

that something is true or false, right or wrong, permissible or impermissible, or that knowledge is insufficient 



STEP 6 — REALITY BINDS 

(Moral Realism) 

What is recognized presents as: 

independent of preference, independent of agreement, independent of outcome



STEP 7 — ASSENT / REFUSAL / SUSPENSION 

The agent commits: 

assent, if judgment fits reality; refusal, if it does not; suspension, if recognition is insufficient



STEP 8 — TERMINATION 

(Foundationalism) 

The agent allows judgment to stand: 

without fabrication, without infinite justification, without performative explanation



STEP 9 — CONSEQUENCES FOLLOW 

(Externality of outcome) 

Outcomes occur: 

social, emotional, material, institutional









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