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Responsibility and Control

Responsibility and Control

Responsibility and Control

A Theory of Moral Responsibility
John Martin Fischer, University of California, Riverside
Mark Ravizza, Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley
October 1999
Available
Paperback
9780521775793
$65.00
USD
Paperback
USD
eBook

    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.

    • Systematic and comprehensive account of moral responsibility
    • Broad interdisciplinary appeal across philosophy, legal theory, and religious studies

    Reviews & endorsements

    "...anyone engaged with English-language philosophy will find the book of interest." Religious Studies Review

    "This is quite a good book. It presents in a clear way a plausible, general approach to foundational issues about moral responsibility." --Michael Bratman, Stanford University

    "Responsibility and Control is work of enormous breadth, depth and significance.... In many ways, the most systematic discussion of moral responsibility currently available and very likely the best as well."--Jules Coleman, Yale University

    "In this excellent new book, John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza undertake to present and argue for an agent operating on his own reason-responsive mechanism. Not everyone will agree with their account, but no one interested in philosophical accounts of moral responsibility can afford not to read it." --Eleonore Stump, Saint Louis University

    "This valuable contribution to current debate offers rich resources for those concerned to dispel some of the confusion at the intersection of ascriptions of legal and moral resonsibility. This volume is essential reading for those concerned with moral responsibility, and with legal reform. Fischer and Ravizza have provided the basis for such an investigation, making plain the suitability of this volume in the excellent Cambridge series." Review of Metaphysics

    "...[Fischer's and Ravizza's] very interesting and provocative discussion represents an important contribution to this on-going debate." International Philosophical Quarterly

    See more reviews

    Product details

    October 1999
    Paperback
    9780521775793
    288 pages
    229 × 153 × 17 mm
    0.4kg
    Available

    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.
      Authors
    • John Martin Fischer , University of California, Riverside
    • Mark Ravizza , Jesuit School of Theology, Berkeley