Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility

by John Martin Fischer, Mark Ravizza

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521775793
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/13/1999
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Law
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.67(d)

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.

What People are Saying About This

Jules Coleman

Responsibility and Control is a work of enormous breadth, depth and significance. It is a careful, creative and thorough treatment of the concept of moral responsibility. In many ways, the most systematic discussion of moral responsibility currently available and very likely the best as well. -- Jules Coleman, Yale Law School

Michael Bratman

...presents in a clear way a plausible, general approach to foundational issues about moral responsibility. -- Michael Bratman, Stanford University

Ginet

This book offers the most thorough and well-worked-out compatibilist analysis of moral responsibility that I'm aware of. Its style strikes a nice balance between readibility and rigor and should be quite accessible to thinkers who are not already well-versed in the philosophical literature about responsibility. -- Carl Ginet, Cornell University

Editorial Reviews

"...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

From the Publisher