Patrick Todd
Biographic Data
| ID | 3866243 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Patrick Todd |
| GIVEN NAMES | Patrick |
| FAMILY NAME | Todd |
| SIGNATURE | TODD P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0009-0003-8001-4364 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Strawson, Libertarianism, and “External Justifications” of Our Responsibility Practices
In his landmark essay, “Freedom and Resentment,” P.F. Strawson articulated a certain kind of objection to libertarian theories of moral responsibility. In Strawson’s words, the libertarian seeks to provide an “external justification” of our practices of moral responsibility—something Strawson claims cannot be provided, but more importantly, something that he claims is simply not needed. “Inside the general structure or web of [reactive] attitudes…
Moral responsibility
Theorists of moral responsibility have suggested that some of our responsibility-responses have a ‘point’, or a ‘function’, and that when, in general, blame with respect to a certain kind of person could not fulfill its function, that kind of person is not in fact blameworthy. Recently, however, some theorists (Beglin 2018, De Mesel 2025) seem to suggest a stronger thesis: if blame with respect to some kind of person can fulfill its function, the…
Future contingents, openness and the possibility of omniscience
In a recent paper, Patrick Todd and Brian Rabern argued that—contra both Thomason's supervaluationism and MacFarlane's relativism—an “open future” view is incompatible with the principle they call “Retro‐closure”, according to which today's rain implies that yesterday it was true that it would rain a day later. In a recent piece, MacFarlane replies. This paper has two aims. First, I argue that MacFarlane's response to Todd and Rabern is unsuccess…
Let's See You Do Better
In response to criticism, we often say – in these or similar words – “Let’s see you do better!” Prima facie, it looks like this response is a challenge of a certain kind – a challenge to prove that one has what has recently been called standing. More generally, the data here seems to point a certain kind of norm of criticism: be better. Slightly more carefully: One must: criticize x with respect to standard s only if one is better than x with res…
Strawsonian Moral Responsibility, Response-dependence, and the Possibility of Global Error
Various philosophers have wanted to move from a (P. F.) “Strawsonian” understanding of the “practices of moral responsibility” to a non-skeptical result. I focus on a strategy moving from a “response-dependent” theory of responsibility. I aim to show that a key analogy associated with this strategy fails to support a compatibilist result. It seems clear that nothing could show that nothing we have been laughing at has really been funny. If “the f…
Critical Notice
Journal Article Critical Notice: The Modal Future: A Theory of Future-Directed Thought and Talk Get access The Modal Future: A Theory of Future-Directed Thought and Talk. By Fabrizio Cariani. (Cambridge: CUP, 2021. Pp. xxv + 292.) Patrick Todd Patrick Todd University of Edinburgh, Scotland Lund University, Sweden Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, pqad087, https://doi.org/10.1093/…
Resisting the epistemic argument for compatibilism
Foreknowledge requires determinism
There is a longstanding argument that purports to show that divine foreknowledge is inconsistent with human freedom to do otherwise. Proponents of this argument, however, have for some time been met with the following reply: the argument posits what would have to be a mysterious non‐causal constraint on freedom. In this paper, I argue that this objection is misguided—not because after all there can indeed be non‐causal constraints on freedom (as …
The problem of future contingents
Various philosophers have long since been attracted to the doctrine that future contingent propositions systematically fail to be true—what is sometimes called the doctrine of the open future. However, open futurists have always struggled to articulate how their view interacts with standard principles of classical logic—most notably, with the Law of Excluded Middle (LEM). For consider the following two claims: (a) Trump will be impeached tomorrow…
On behalf of a mutable future
Manipulation Arguments and the Freedom to do Otherwise
I provide a manipulation‐style argument against classical compatibilism—the claim that freedom to do otherwise is consistent with determinism. My question is simple: if Diana (the designer) really gave Ernie (the designed) free will, why isn't she worried that he won't use it precisely as she would like? Diana's non‐nervousness, I argue, indicates Ernie's non‐freedom. Arguably, the intuition that Ernie lacks freedom to do otherwise is stronger th…
The greatest possible being needn't be anything impossible
There are various argumentative strategies for advancing the claim that God does not exist. One such strategy is this. First, one notes that God is meant to have a certain divine attribute (such as omniscience). One then argues that having the relevant attribute is impossible. One concludes that God doesn't exist. For instance, Dennis Whitcomb's recent paper, ‘Grounding and omniscience’, proceeds in exactly this way. As Whitcomb says, ‘I'm going …
The Truth about Foreknowledge
In this paper we critically evaluate Trenton Merricks's recent attempt to provide a "new" way of defending compatibilism about divine foreknowledge and human freedom. We take issue with Merricks's claim that his approach is fundamentally different from Ockhamism. We also seek to highlight the implausibility of Merricks's rejection of the assumption of the fixity of the past, and we also develop a critique of the Merricks's crucial notion of "depe…
Prepunishment and Explanatory Dependence
The most promising way of responding to arguments for the incompatibility of divine foreknowledge and human freedom (in one way or another) invokes a claim about the order of explanation: God knew (or believed) that you would perform a given action because you would, in fact, perform it, and not the other way around. Once we see this result, many suppose, we'll see that divine foreknowledge ultimately poses no threat to human freedom. This essay …
The Truth About Freedom
In his recent essay in the Philosophical Review, “Truth and Freedom,” Trenton Merricks contends (among other things) that the basic argument for the incompatibility of God's foreknowledge and human freedom is question-begging. He relies on a “truism” to the effect that truth depends on the world and not the other way around. The present essay argues that mere invocation of this truism does not establish that the basic argument for incompatibilism…
A Problem for Guidance Control
Central to Fischer and Ravizza's theory of moral responsibility is the concept of guidance control, which involves two conditions: (1) moderate reasons‐responsiveness, and (2) mechanism ownership. We raise a worry for Fischer and Ravizza's account of (1). If an agent acts contrary to reasons which he could not recognize, this should lead us to conclude that he is not morally responsible for his behaviour; but according to Fischer and Ravizza's ac…
On behalf of a mutable future
Prepunishment and Explanatory Dependence
The most promising way of responding to arguments for the incompatibility of divine foreknowledge and human freedom (in one way or another) invokes a claim about the order of explanation: God knew (or believed) that you would perform a given action because you would, in fact, perform it, and not the other way around. Once we see this result, many suppose, we'll see that divine foreknowledge ultimately poses no threat to human freedom. This essay …
Manipulation Arguments and the Freedom to do Otherwise
I provide a manipulation‐style argument against classical compatibilism—the claim that freedom to do otherwise is consistent with determinism. My question is simple: if Diana (the designer) really gave Ernie (the designed) free will, why isn't she worried that he won't use it precisely as she would like? Diana's non‐nervousness, I argue, indicates Ernie's non‐freedom. Arguably, the intuition that Ernie lacks freedom to do otherwise is stronger th…
Foreknowledge requires determinism
There is a longstanding argument that purports to show that divine foreknowledge is inconsistent with human freedom to do otherwise. Proponents of this argument, however, have for some time been met with the following reply: the argument posits what would have to be a mysterious non‐causal constraint on freedom. In this paper, I argue that this objection is misguided—not because after all there can indeed be non‐causal constraints on freedom (as …
The problem of future contingents
Various philosophers have long since been attracted to the doctrine that future contingent propositions systematically fail to be true—what is sometimes called the doctrine of the open future. However, open futurists have always struggled to articulate how their view interacts with standard principles of classical logic—most notably, with the Law of Excluded Middle (LEM). For consider the following two claims: (a) Trump will be impeached tomorrow…
A Problem for Guidance Control
Central to Fischer and Ravizza's theory of moral responsibility is the concept of guidance control, which involves two conditions: (1) moderate reasons‐responsiveness, and (2) mechanism ownership. We raise a worry for Fischer and Ravizza's account of (1). If an agent acts contrary to reasons which he could not recognize, this should lead us to conclude that he is not morally responsible for his behaviour; but according to Fischer and Ravizza's ac…
The Truth About Freedom
In his recent essay in the Philosophical Review, “Truth and Freedom,” Trenton Merricks contends (among other things) that the basic argument for the incompatibility of God's foreknowledge and human freedom is question-begging. He relies on a “truism” to the effect that truth depends on the world and not the other way around. The present essay argues that mere invocation of this truism does not establish that the basic argument for incompatibilism…
The Truth about Foreknowledge
In this paper we critically evaluate Trenton Merricks's recent attempt to provide a "new" way of defending compatibilism about divine foreknowledge and human freedom. We take issue with Merricks's claim that his approach is fundamentally different from Ockhamism. We also seek to highlight the implausibility of Merricks's rejection of the assumption of the fixity of the past, and we also develop a critique of the Merricks's crucial notion of "depe…
Prepunishment and Explanatory Dependence
The most promising way of responding to arguments for the incompatibility of divine foreknowledge and human freedom (in one way or another) invokes a claim about the order of explanation: God knew (or believed) that you would perform a given action because you would, in fact, perform it, and not the other way around. Once we see this result, many suppose, we'll see that divine foreknowledge ultimately poses no threat to human freedom. This essay …
The greatest possible being needn't be anything impossible
There are various argumentative strategies for advancing the claim that God does not exist. One such strategy is this. First, one notes that God is meant to have a certain divine attribute (such as omniscience). One then argues that having the relevant attribute is impossible. One concludes that God doesn't exist. For instance, Dennis Whitcomb's recent paper, ‘Grounding and omniscience’, proceeds in exactly this way. As Whitcomb says, ‘I'm going …
On behalf of a mutable future
Manipulation Arguments and the Freedom to do Otherwise
I provide a manipulation‐style argument against classical compatibilism—the claim that freedom to do otherwise is consistent with determinism. My question is simple: if Diana (the designer) really gave Ernie (the designed) free will, why isn't she worried that he won't use it precisely as she would like? Diana's non‐nervousness, I argue, indicates Ernie's non‐freedom. Arguably, the intuition that Ernie lacks freedom to do otherwise is stronger th…
The problem of future contingents
Various philosophers have long since been attracted to the doctrine that future contingent propositions systematically fail to be true—what is sometimes called the doctrine of the open future. However, open futurists have always struggled to articulate how their view interacts with standard principles of classical logic—most notably, with the Law of Excluded Middle (LEM). For consider the following two claims: (a) Trump will be impeached tomorrow…
Foreknowledge requires determinism
There is a longstanding argument that purports to show that divine foreknowledge is inconsistent with human freedom to do otherwise. Proponents of this argument, however, have for some time been met with the following reply: the argument posits what would have to be a mysterious non‐causal constraint on freedom. In this paper, I argue that this objection is misguided—not because after all there can indeed be non‐causal constraints on freedom (as …
Resisting the epistemic argument for compatibilism
Let's See You Do Better
In response to criticism, we often say – in these or similar words – “Let’s see you do better!” Prima facie, it looks like this response is a challenge of a certain kind – a challenge to prove that one has what has recently been called standing. More generally, the data here seems to point a certain kind of norm of criticism: be better. Slightly more carefully: One must: criticize x with respect to standard s only if one is better than x with res…
Strawsonian Moral Responsibility, Response-dependence, and the Possibility of Global Error
Various philosophers have wanted to move from a (P. F.) “Strawsonian” understanding of the “practices of moral responsibility” to a non-skeptical result. I focus on a strategy moving from a “response-dependent” theory of responsibility. I aim to show that a key analogy associated with this strategy fails to support a compatibilist result. It seems clear that nothing could show that nothing we have been laughing at has really been funny. If “the f…
Critical Notice
Journal Article Critical Notice: The Modal Future: A Theory of Future-Directed Thought and Talk Get access The Modal Future: A Theory of Future-Directed Thought and Talk. By Fabrizio Cariani. (Cambridge: CUP, 2021. Pp. xxv + 292.) Patrick Todd Patrick Todd University of Edinburgh, Scotland Lund University, Sweden Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, pqad087, https://doi.org/10.1093/…
Moral responsibility
Theorists of moral responsibility have suggested that some of our responsibility-responses have a ‘point’, or a ‘function’, and that when, in general, blame with respect to a certain kind of person could not fulfill its function, that kind of person is not in fact blameworthy. Recently, however, some theorists (Beglin 2018, De Mesel 2025) seem to suggest a stronger thesis: if blame with respect to some kind of person can fulfill its function, the…
Future contingents, openness and the possibility of omniscience
In a recent paper, Patrick Todd and Brian Rabern argued that—contra both Thomason's supervaluationism and MacFarlane's relativism—an “open future” view is incompatible with the principle they call “Retro‐closure”, according to which today's rain implies that yesterday it was true that it would rain a day later. In a recent piece, MacFarlane replies. This paper has two aims. First, I argue that MacFarlane's response to Todd and Rabern is unsuccess…
Strawson, Libertarianism, and “External Justifications” of Our Responsibility Practices
In his landmark essay, “Freedom and Resentment,” P.F. Strawson articulated a certain kind of objection to libertarian theories of moral responsibility. In Strawson’s words, the libertarian seeks to provide an “external justification” of our practices of moral responsibility—something Strawson claims cannot be provided, but more importantly, something that he claims is simply not needed. “Inside the general structure or web of [reactive] attitudes…
Philosophy (13 works) · Epistemology (12 works) · Free Will and Agency (9 works) · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics (6 works) · Free will (6 works) · Incompatibilism (6 works) · Philosophical Ethics and Theory (6 works) · Argument (complex analysis) (5 works) · Compatibilism (5 works) · Theology and Philosophy of Evil (5 works)