Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T17:00:25.216Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Compatibilist Alternatives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Joseph Keim Campbell
Joseph Keim Campbell*
Affiliation:
Washington State University, Pullman, WA99164-5130, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper is a defense of traditional compatibilism. Traditional compatibilism is, roughly, the view that (a) free will is essential to moral responsibility, (b) free will requires alternative possibilities of action, or alternatives for short, and (c) moral responsibility is compatible with determinism. Traditional compatibilism is a version of the traditional theory of free will. According to the traditional theory, a person S performed an action a freely only if S could have done otherwise, that is, only if S had alternatives. The traditional theory is often contrasted with the source theory: S performed a freely only if S was the source of a (McKenna 2001; Pereboom 2003). One may adopt a combined view of free will that sanctions both the traditional and source theories (Kane 1996, 72-3; van Inwagen 1983). As I use the terms ‘source theorist’ and ‘traditional theorist,’ the former refers to folks who accept the source theory and reject the traditional theory; the latter refers to folks who accept the traditional theory whether or not they accept the source theory.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , September 2005 , pp. 387 - 406
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aristotle, . 1985. The Nicomachean Ethics, Irwin, T. trans. Indianapolis: Hackett. Reprinted in Pereboom, 1997, eh. 1. (Page references are to the latter version.)Google Scholar
Black, T. 2003. ‘Contextualism in Epistemology.’ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://www.iep.utm.edu/c/contextu.htmGoogle Scholar
Campbell, J.K. 1997. ‘A Compatibilist Theory of Alternative Possibilities.’ Philosophical Studies 88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, J.K. 1999. ‘Descartes on Spontaneity, Indifference, and Alternatives.’ In New Essays on the Rationalists, eds. Gennaro, R.J. and Huenemann, C. eds. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, J.K. fortheoming. ‘On the Impossibility of Time Travel.’ In Paradoxes of Time Travel: A Philosophical Reader, Campbell, J.K. ed. Calgary: BroadviewGoogle Scholar
Campbell, J.K. O'Rourke, M. and D., Shier D., eds. 2004a. ‘Freedom and Determinism: A Framework.’ In Campbell, O'Rourke, and Shier, 2004b.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, J.K. M. 2004b. Freedom and Determinism. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
DeRose, K. 1992. ‘Contextualism and Knowledge Attributions.’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeRose, K. 1999a. ‘Introduction: Responding to Skepticism.’ In Skepticism: A Contemporary Reader, DeRose, K. and Warfield, T.A. eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
DeRose, K. 1999b. ‘Contextualism: An Explanation and Defense.’ In The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology, Greco, J. and Sosa, E. eds. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Feldman, R. 2004. ‘Freedom and Contextualism.’ In Campbell, O'Rourke, and Shier, 2004b.Google Scholar
Finch, A. and Warfield, T.. 1998. ‘The Mind Argument and Libertarianism.’ Mind 107 515–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, J.M. 1994. The Metaphysics of Free Will: An Essay on Control. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Fischer, J.M. 2002. ‘Frankfurt-type Examples and Semi-Compatibilism.’ In The Oxford Handbook Of Free Will, Kane, R. ed. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, J.M. ed. 1986. Moral Responsibility. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, J.M. and Ravizza, M.. 1993. ‘Introduction.’ In Perspectives on Moral Responsibility, Fischer, J.M. and Ravizza, M. eds. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Fischer, J.M. 1998. Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frankfurt, H.G. 1969. ‘Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility.’ Journal of Philosophy 45. Reprinted in Pereboom, 1997. (Page references are to the latter version.)Google Scholar
Ginet, C. 1990. On Action. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Hawthorne, J. 2001. ‘Freedom in Context.’ Philosophical Studies 104 63–79.Google Scholar
Hawthorne, J. 2004. Knowledge and Lotteries. Oxford. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
James, W. 1948. ‘The Dilemma of Determinism.’ Essays in Pragmatism. New York: Hafner Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Kane, R. 1996. The Significance of Free Will. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1976. ‘The Paradoxes of Time Travel.’ American Philosophical Quarterly 13. Reprinted in Lewis, 1986. (Page references are to the latter version.)Google Scholar
Lewis, D. 1979. ‘Score Keeping in a Language Game.’ Journal of Philosophical Logic 8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D. 1981. ‘Are We Free to Break the Laws?’ Theoria 47 113–21. Reprinted in Lewis, 1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, D. 1986. Philosophical Papers, Volume II. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McKenna, M.S. 1998. ‘Does Strong Compatibilism Survive Frankfurt Counter-Examples?’ Philosophical Studies 91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKenna, M.S. 2001. ‘Source Incompatibilism, Ultimacy, and the Transfer of Non-Responsibility.’ American Philosophical Quarterly 38.Google Scholar
McKenna, M.S. 2003. ‘Neo's Freedom … Whoa!’ Matrix Reloaded Website: http.//whatisthematrix. warnerbros.com/Google Scholar
Moore, G.E. 1912. Ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pereboom, D. 1994. ‘Determinism al Dente.’ Nous 29. Reprinted in Pereboom, 1997.Google Scholar
Pereboom, 2003. ‘Source Incompatibilism and Alternative Possibilities.’ In Freedom, Responsibility, and Agency: Essays on the Importance of Alternative Possibilities, McKenna, M. and Widerker, D. eds. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing.Google Scholar
Pereboom, ed. 1997. Free Will. Indianapolis: Hackett.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perry, J. 1997. ‘Indexicals and Demonstratives.’ In A Companion to the Philosophy of Language, Hale, B. and Wright, C. eds. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Perry, J. 2001. Reference and Reflexivity. Stanford: CSLI Publications.Google Scholar
Perry, J. 2004. ‘Compatibilist Options.’ In Campbell, O'Rourke, and Shier 2004b.Google Scholar
Russell, P. 1995. Freedom and Moral Sentiment: Hume's Way of Naturalizing Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sider, T. 1997. ‘A New Grandfather Paradox?’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stainton, R.J. forthcoming. ‘Contextualism in Epistemology and the Context Sensitivity of “Knows”.’ In Knowledge and Skepticism, Campbell, J.K. O'Rourke, M. and Silverstein, H. eds. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar
Strawson, P.F. 1962. ‘Freedom and Resentment.’ Proceedings of the British Academy 48. Reprinted in Pereboom, 1997. (Page references are to the latter version.)Google Scholar
Unger, P. 1984. Philosophical Relativity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,Google Scholar
van Inwagen, P. 1983. An Essay on Free Will. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
van Inwagen, P. 2000. ‘Free Will Remains a Mystery.’ Philosophical Perspectives 14.Google Scholar
Wallace, R.J. 1994. Responsibility and the Moral Sentiments. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Watson, G. 1987. ‘Responsibility and the Limits of Evil: Variations on a Strawsonian Theme.’ In Responsibility, Character, and the Emotions: New Essays in Moral Psychology, Schoeman, F. ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Widerker, D. 2002. ‘Farewell to the Direct Argument’ The Journal of Philosophy 99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar