Fixed Does Not Mean Bypassed: Evaluative Resolution and Authorship

Resolution Theory identifies free will with evaluative resolution: conscious value-ranking that closes into action. It preserves authorship within determinism by locating choice inside time, not outside causation. Responsibility is binary (authorship), while blame is scalar and sensitive to distortion, coercion, and epistemic constraint; bypass excuses, distortion mitigates. The framework also blocks responsibility laundering in artificial systems by requiring sponsorship wherever consciousness cannot be verified, and by recommending precautionary safeguards under serious moral uncertainty.