Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility

by John Martin Fischer , Mark Ravizza

• ISBN13: 9780521775793
• ISBN10: 0521775795
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book provides a comprehensive, systematic theory of moral responsibility. The authors explore the conditions under which individuals are morally responsible for actions, omissions, consequences, and emotions. The leading idea in the book is that moral responsibility is based on "guidance control." This control has two components: the mechanism that issues in the relevant behavior must be the agent's own mechanism, and it must be appropriately responsive to reasons. The book develops an account of both components. The authors go on to offer a sustained defense of the thesis that moral responsibility is compatible with causal determinism. This major study will interest moral philosophers, legal theorists, and those in religious studies concerned with the issue of moral responsibility.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

1. Moral responsibility: the concepts and challenges

2. Moral responsibility for actions: weak reasons-responsiveness

3. Moral responsibility for actions: moderate reasons-responsiveness

4. Responsibility for consequences

5. Responsibility for omissions

6. The direct argument for incompatibilism

7. Responsibility and history

8. Taking responsibility

9. Conclusion

Bibliography.