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4. Qualied Ramications
4.1 State Constraints with Exceptions
Our account of the Qualication Problem was made possible by the foregoing
solution to the Ramication Problem. The fact that abnormal circumstances
can be brought about as side eect of performing certain actions is best
accommodated, so our argument went, if these side eects are obtained just
like all indirect eects are, that is, through ramication. In this concluding
chapter, we will expand even further the connection between the Ramication
and Qualication Problem. This time it is argued how solutions to the latter,
and in particular the one we pursued, can in turn be successfully employed
to address a generalization of the former.
The motivation for this generalization of the Ramication Problem is
inherited from the Qualication Problem. If actions in non-articial envi-
ronments may turn out unqualied for some abnormal reason, then so may
ramications, too. Recall, for instance, the introductory electric circuit from
the beginning of Chapter 2, which connects a battery with a switch and a
light bulb (c.f. Fig. 2.1). It has been said that the light is on if and only if
the switch is closed. Formally, light up ( s 1 ). This state constraint, so the
argument went, gives rise to indirect eects, e.g., the bulb is expected to light
up once s 1 is switched into the upper position. Taking this as eternal truth
is appropriate for an idealistic version of the circuit. But the expectation that
the light can be switched on in this way in a real circuit depends on addi-
tional, tacitly presupposed conditions, e.g., the bulb must not be broken, the
battery not be malfunctioning, and the wiring needs to be in order. If the
belief is held that all of these conditions are usually satised, then we face
a situation similar to the Qualication Problem. Namely, abnormal circum-
stances, now denying the universality of a state constraint and, hence, the
occurrence of the indirect eects it is supposed to trigger, need to be assumed
away|but again only to a reasonable extent.
The remainder of this chapter is devoted to this problem of accounting
for exceptions to state constraints, as we call it. It will turn out that this end
merely requires the adoption of the insights gained in the context of the Qual-
ication Problem. This means that rather than newly extending the action
theory we nally arrived at, it suces to pursue a specic design strategy for
state constraints that admit exceptions. Treatment of these exceptions, which
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