Saying Good-Bye to the Direct Argument the Right Way
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10699367 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Mckenna (0000-0001-7859-3633, Florida State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 117 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 349-383 |
| Publication date | 2008-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Philosophical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-8108 • E-ISSN: 1558-1470 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00318108-2008-002 |
| OpenAlex | W2120424021 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 20 |
Peter van Inwagen contends that nonresponsibility transfers across deterministic relations. Suppose it does. If the facts of the past and the laws of nature entail every truth about what one does, and no one is even in part morally responsible for the past and the laws, then no one is even in part morally responsible for what one does. This argument, the Direct Argument, has drawn various critics, who have attempted to produce counterexamples to its core inference principle. This article considers two notable efforts, one by John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza and another by David Widerker. It shows that neither is sufficient to reject the Direct Argument. The article then proceeds to challenge the argument in a novel fashion. Van Inwagen has not given us good reason to think that the principle in question has an adequate anchor in our inferential practices, especially in light of the dialectical context with the compatibilist. Hence, it is not the compatibilists' burden to produce counterexamples to it. Rather, it is van Inwagen's burden to produce relevant confirming instances of it
Argument (complex analysis) · Compatibilism · Context (archaeology) · Counterexample · Dialectic · Epistemology · Free will · Incompatibilism · Inference · Free Will and Agency · History · Mathematics · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Philosophy · War, Ethics, and Justification
On the Compatibility of Rational Deliberation and Determinism
The Contingency of Actuality
The Direct Argument, Rule B, and divine determinism
Manipulation Arguments and the Freedom to do Otherwise
The direct argument is a prima facie threat to compatibilism
Recent Work on Free Will and Moral Responsibility
Responsibility and the moral sentiments
Responsibility and Control
Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility
Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person
Moral Appraisability
Are we free to break the laws
Libertarianism and Frankfurt's Attack on the Principle of Alternative Possibilities
Natural Agency
The Direct Argument for Incompatibilism
The incompatibility of free will and determinism
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,35 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |