Free will and reactive attitudes free will and reactive. Peter frederick strawson 19192006 was an oxfordbased philosopher whose career spanned the second half of the twentieth century. Freedom and resentment work by strawson britannica. Benjamin kelsey under the direction of eddy nahmias abstract galen strawsons basic argument is an attempt to prove that no agent can meet the demands for true moral responsibility. Peter strawsons paper, freedom and resentment did much to change the direction of the debate surrounding determinism. By the time of his death in 2006, sir peter strawson was regarded as one of the worlds most distinguished philosophers.
At the time of his death in 2006, sir peter strawson was regarded as one of the worlds most distinguished philosophers. On the whole, we continue to believe firmly both that we have fre. Strawson observed that people display emotions such as resentment, anger, gratitude, and so on in response to the actions of others. Strawson s freedom and resentment, michael mckenna and paul russell freedom and resentment, p. In a highly sympathetic discussion of freedom and resentment jonathan bennett has distanced himself, in this respect, from strawson s position. He wrote very little about that, but his main contribution, freedom and resentment strawson 1960, is perhaps now his most famous and widely discussed paper. Resentment is personal and includes not one singular thing but a history. Peter strawson, freedom and resentment 1974 by kristen. First published thirty years ago but long since unavailable, freedom and resentment collects some of strawson s most important work. It may be argued that harris, although not a member of the moral community according to watson, has or had the ability to become a member of the moral community but chose not to become one. Strawson argues that instead of approaching the problem of. Strawsons freedom and resentment we are naturally social beings. Others say, or imply, that they do know what it is.
Strawson is close to a group of thinkers who share a view that william james would have called hard determinism, including richard double, ted honderich, derk pereboom, saul. Introduction although peter strawsons freedom and resentment was published 50. He was the waynflete professor of metaphysical philosophy at the university of oxford magdalen college from 1968 to 1987. They demand a deeper normative explanation for when it is appropriate to modify or mollify the reactive attitudes.
The debate is of central importance to recent developments in the free will literature and has shaped the way contemporary philosophers now approach the problem. See below for information about citations and references, and how to use them. Introduction to philosophy richard holton free will. Strawson argues that appreciating the role of reactive attitudes in moral. Strawson made a contribution to the free will versus determinism discussions by pointing out that whatever the deep metaphysical truth on these issues, people would not give up talking about and feeling moral responsibility, praise and blame, guilt and pride, crime and. Freedom and resentment and other essays book summary. Strawson with the publication of his essay freedom and resentment has generated a wide range of discussion and criticism in the philosophical community. It will highlight how the theory has been challenged and then argue how the strawsonian theory is underdeveloped and not as coherent as it initially seems. This post will discuss strawsons theory of moral responsibility. Im really proud to be able to contribute to this series the original posts and the comments so far have been just great. Bennett claims that strawson places too much emphasis on the claim that we could not possibly relinquish all reactive feelings. Strawson s descriptive metaphysics its scope and limits.
First published thirty years ago but long since unavailable, freedom and resentment collects some of strawson s most important work and is an ideal introduction to his thinking on such topics as the philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology and. His more explicit concern was to look again at the question of whether determinism and freedom are consistent with one another by shifting attention to certain personal rather than moral attitudes, first of all gratitude and resentment. Strawson s 1962 freedom and resentment has provoked a wide ride range of responses, both positive and negative, and an equally wide range of interpretations. Strawson and the reactive attitudes research papers.
Review the full course description and key learning outcomes and create an account and enrol if you want a free statement of participation. Accountability and the secondperson princeton university. Miller arly in the secondperson standpoint, stephen darwall articulates a thesis that he takes p. Strawson s argument in freedom and resentment date. Strawsons 1962 freedom and resentment has provoked a wide ride range of responses, both positive and negative, and an equally wide range of interpretations.
Free will skepticism or hard determinism is an incompatibilist position which states that determinism is true and therefore we have no free will, and thus no moral responsibility. Blame is safe and healthy as it puts an active focus to circumstances and allows one to play with freedom, in the way ive already described. Strawson 19192006, in his famous 1963 essay freedom and resentment offers an elaborate account of compatibilism vs. Moral responsibility stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. This will be the final weekly discussion post of our second series of weekly discussions. Scanlon have called into question it explanatory basis, which grounds moral responsibility in human nature and interpersonal relationships. The correct form for the bibliographic reference element of a citation for the selected resource is shown in a variety of the most widelyaccepted citation styles below. Strawson s freedom and resentment we are naturally social beings. Another thing i do not want to say is that in any given sentence there is never more than one expression used in the way i propose to discuss.
The philosophical debate about free will and responsibility has been of great importance throughout the history of philosophy. Strawsons naturalist theory of free will and moral responsibility. Strawson made a contribution to the free will versus determinism discussions by pointing out that whatever the deep metaphysical. Actually, this is one of the most influential papers in the 20th century on the topic of free will, but many nonphilosophers who are deeply interested in free will dont know much about it. Galen john strawson is a british professor of philosopher and literary.
But 3 if there in no sense exists a king of france, the sentence is not about anything, and hence not about the king of prance. Strawson s famous, famous 1962 paper freedom and resentment. This is a revised and updated edition of galen strawsons groundbreaking first book, where he argues that there is a fundamental sense in which there is no such thing as free will or true moral responsibility as this is ordinarily understood. Therefore 4 since s is significant, there must in some sense in spme world exist or subsist the king of france. Click to open peter strawsons article freedom and resentment tip. I argue that by attending to a distinction among perspectives on the root causes of our reactive attitudes, we can better understand the bases and limitations of longstanding debates about free will and moral responsibility. Strawson, as you will see, divides his paper into numbered sections.
Freedom and resentment, and other essays strawson, p. Strawson made a contribution to the free will versus determinism discussions by pointing out that whatever the deep metaphysical truth on these issues, people would not give up talking about and feeling moral responsibility, praise and blame, guilt and pride, crime and punishment, gratitude, resentment, and forgiveness. Variations on a strawsonian theme there is a problem with strawson, namely that those who are outside the reach of personal relationships include not only small children and the insane, but also some who are deeply evil. He wrote most notably about the philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology and the history of philosophy, especially kant. How do strawsons labels of optimist and pessimist correspond to the labels introduced in the final two paragraphs of the last section. Strawson 19192006 introduced an influential version of compatibilism grounded in human psychology. On the contrary, it is obvious that there may be more than one. Jan 01, 1974 by the time of his death in 2006, sir peter strawson was regarded as one of the worlds most distinguished philosophers. Peter strawson, clifford brown acumen publishing, 2006 free will and reactive attitudes. Justin coates university of chicago draft november 12, 2012 1. Strawsons purpose is to dissolve the so called problem of determinism and responsibility.
Freedom and belief paperback galen strawson oxford. Strawson published his essay freedom and resentment, generating a wide range of discussion and criticism in the philosophical community and beyond. Reactive attitudes as communicative entities coleen macnamara. I respond to a set of criticisms of the view by free will skeptics, compatibilists, and libertarians who. Sir peter strawson 19192006, univ newsletter, issue 23, page 4, hilary 2006. Then you will be apt to feel, not just angry, but resentful towards them.
Strawson published a large number of influential articles, ranging over language, metaphysics, epistemology, and the history of philosophy, including a highly influential one entitled freedom and resentment, first published in the proceedings of the british academy in 1960, and collected here along with some of his. First published thirty years ago but long since unavailable, freedom and resentment collects some of strawson s most important work and is an ideal introduction to his thinking on such topics as the philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology and aesthetics. Mckennas alteration to the strawsonian theory of moral responsibility now allows strawsons theory to respond to the challenge posed by watson. Strawsons freedom and resentment as suggesting a point about the order of explanation concerning moral responsibility. Peter frederick strawson stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. On his view, when we engage in interpersonal relationships with others, we open ourselves up to experiencing certain emotions. The doyen of living english philosophers, by these reflections, took hold of and changed the outlook of a good many other philosophers, if not. These are not the deep kantian categories, these are. In a highly sympathetic discussion of freedom and resentment jonathan bennett has distanced himself, in this respect, from strawsons position. View strawson and the reactive attitudes research papers on academia. Pdf freedom and resentment and other essays download.
Strawson argues that there are two different sorts of attitudes that we can take towards a person. Strawsons freedom and resentment, michael mckenna and paul russell freedom and resentment, p. In his unique style of argumentation on compatibilism vs. First published thirty years ago but long since unavailable, freedom and resentment collects some of strawsons most important work and is an ideal introduction to his thinking on such topics as the philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology and.
Although peter strawsons freedom and resentment was published 50 years ago and has been a widely discussed article,1 its main argument is still notoriously difficult to pin down. Strawsons paper freedom and resentment really succeeds in undercutting the traditional debate about free will and suggests that the deepest source of our. The npr correspondent commu nicates with her listening. Strawson s effort to refute or discredit the views of the pessimist. Some philosophers say they do not know what the thesis of determinism is. Responsibility and moral psychology flashcards quizlet. In the end, he arrived at a kind of compatibilist or, as he says, optimist conclusion. Ayer accountability ii, jonathan bennett the importance of free will, susan wolf on freedom and resentment, galen strawson responsibility and the limits of. Galen strawson developed a basic argument which attempts to prove that free will and moral responsibility do not exist.
First published thirty years ago but long since unavailable, freedom and resentment collects some of strawsons most important work and is an ideal introduction to his thinking on such topics as the philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology and aesthetics. Freedom and resentment and other essays by peter frederick. Strawsons effort to refute or discredit the views of the pessimist. These are not the deep kantian categories, these are just things we knew all along. Strawson famously identified the reac tive attitudesresentment, indignation, gratitude and approvalas playing a key role in our practices of. On the whole we continue to believe firmly both that we have free will and that we are truly morally. Introduction to philosophy richard holton free will iii. In modern times this debate has received an enormous resurgence of interest and the contribution in 1962 by p.
A largely unquestioned assumption was that free will is required for moral. The strawsonian theory of moral responsibility the. Strawson and pereboom 6 determinism are not compatible. Strawsons theory on moral responsibility outlined in freedom and resentment, focuses on the fact that he associated moral responsibility with. For strawson, interpersonal relationships are so ingrained in our humanity and are so thoroughly important to us. Strawson, freedom and resentment its the second case which strawson mentions and privilegeswhen we excuse someones behavior on the grounds of abnormality or lack of rational agencythat interests me.
Strawson always joked that he would turn to moral philosophy only when his powers were waning. The strawsonian theory of moral responsibility the written word. Philosophers give very different answers to these questions. In freedom and resentment 1962, the british philosopher p. In freedom and resentment, strawson proposes a commonsense argument for compatibilism. Of these, somethe pessimists perhapshold that if the thesis is true, then the concepts of moral obligation and responsibility really have no. I argue that extant developments of the reversal face a dilemma.
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