Freedom and Responsibility

Hilary Bok

Published by Princeton University Press 1999

Freedom and Responsibility

Hilary Bok

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400822737

Overview
Contents

About this book

Can we reconcile the idea that we are free and responsible agents with the idea that what we do is determined according to natural laws? For centuries, philosophers have tried in different ways to show that we can. Hilary Bok takes a fresh approach here, as she seeks to show that the two ideas are compatible by drawing on the distinction between practical and theoretical reasoning.

Bok argues that when we engage in practical reasoning--the kind that involves asking "what should I do?" and sifting through alternatives to find the most justifiable course of action--we have reason to hold ourselves responsible for what we do. But when we engage in theoretical reasoning--searching for causal explanations of events--we have no reason to apply concepts like freedom and responsibility. Bok contends that libertarians' arguments against "compatibilist" justifications of moral responsibility fail because they describe human actions only from the standpoint of theoretical reasoning. To establish this claim, she examines which conceptions of freedom of the will and moral responsibility are relevant to practical reasoning and shows that these conceptions are not vulnerable to many objections that libertarians have directed against compatibilists. Bok concludes that the truth or falsity of the claim that we are free and responsible agents in the sense those conceptions spell out is ultimately independent of deterministic accounts of the causes of human actions.

Clearly written and powerfully argued, Freedom and Responsibility is a major addition to current debate about some of philosophy's oldest and deepest questions.

Author / Editor information

Hilary Bok is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Pomona College.

Reviews

[Bok¹s] original contribution is to show, in more detail than other contemporary theories, how practical reasoning is involved in the improvement of our characters--how it is dedicated to bringing the will into conformity with ideals or standards.---Robert Kane, Times Literary Supplement

Freedom and Responsibility is an important contribution to the debate about free will and moral responsibility. It offers an imaginative and challenging defense of compatibilism, a defense that parts company with the conventional discussions and argumentative strategies. It is well worth reading.---Michael McKenna, Ethics

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. The problem Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
2. Theoretical and Practical Reason Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
3. Freedom Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
4. Holding Ourselves Responsible Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
5. The Adequacy of My Account. Excursus on Guilt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
6. Holding Others Responsible Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221

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