Impulse and self-reflection: Frankfurtian responsibility versus free will [Book Review]

The Journal of Ethics 3 (4):325-341 (1999)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Harry Frankfurt''s early work makes an important distinction between moral responsibility and free will. Frankfurt begins by focusing on the notion of responsibility, as supplying counterexamples to the principle of alternative possibilities; he then turns to an apparently independent account of free will, in terms of his well-known hierarchy of desires. But the two notions seem to reestablish contact in Frankfurt''s later discussion of issues and cases. The present article sets up a putative Frankfurtian account of moral responsibility that involves the potential for free will, as suggested by some of Frankfurt''s later remarks about taking responsibility. While correcting what seem to be some common misinterpretations of Frankfurt''s view, the article attempts to extract some reasons for dissatisfaction with it from consideration of cases of unfreedom, particularly cases involving addiction.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,672

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Frankfurt cases: The moral of the stories.John Martin Fischer - 2010 - Philosophical Review 119 (3):315-336.
Indeterminism and Frankfurt‐type examples.Ishtiyaque Haji - 1999 - Philosophical Explorations 2 (1):42-58.
The impertinence of Frankfurt-style argument.Daniel James Speak - 2007 - Philosophical Quarterly 57 (226):76-95.
Autonomy under threat: A revised Frankfurtian account.Thomas Nys - 2009 - Philosophical Explorations 12 (1):3 – 17.
Rescuing Frankfurt-style cases.Alfred R. Mele & David Robb - 1998 - Philosophical Review 107 (1):97-112.
Responsibility and Frankfurt-type examples.David Widerker - 2001 - In Robert Kane (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press.
Finking Frankfurt.Daniel Cohen & Toby Handfield - 2007 - Philosophical Studies 135 (3):363--74.
The Price of Frankfurt’s Compatibalism.Bindu Madhok - 2002 - Journal of Philosophical Research 27:577-584.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
127 (#142,604)

6 months
4 (#775,606)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Patricia S. Greenspan
University of Maryland, College Park

Citations of this work

Personal autonomy.Sarah Buss - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Responsible psychopaths.Patricia S. Greenspan - 2003 - Philosophical Psychology 16 (3):417 – 429.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Introduction.John Martin Fischer & Mark Ravizza - 1993 - In John Martin Fischer & Mark Ravizza (eds.), Perspectives on Moral Responsibility. Cornell University Press. pp. 1-42.

Add more references