Responsibility, Character, and the Emotions: New Essays in Moral Psychology

by Ferdinand Schoeman (Editor)

Overview

This volume of original essays addresses a range of issues concerning the responsibility individuals have for their actions and for their characters. Among the central questions considered are: what scope is there for regarding a person as responsible for his character given genetic and environmental factors; does an account of responsiblity provide a legitimate basis for the retributive emotions; are we ever justified in feeling guilty for occurrences over which we have no control; does responsibility for the consequences of our acts require that they were intended or simply expected; and how have a number of influential previous philosophers, including Aristotle, Maimonides, and Spinoza, approached these questions?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521327206
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/29/1988
Pages:	372
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction Ferdinand Schoeman; Part I. Responsibility and Character: 2. Identification and wholeheartedness Harry Frankfurt; 3. Sanity and the metaphysics of responsibility Susan Wolf; 4. Unfreedom and responsibility Patricia Greenspan; 5. Responsiveness and moral responsibility John Martin Fischer; 6. Determinism and freedom in Spinoza, Maimonides, and Aristotle: a retrospective study Lenn E. Goodman; 7. Emotions, responsibility, and character John Sabini and Maury Silver; Part II. Responsibility and Culpability: 8. The moral worth of retribution Michael S. Moore; 9. Nonmoral guilt Herbert Morris; 10. Provocation and culpability Andrew Von Hirsch and Nils Jareborg; 11. Responsibility and the limits of evil: variations on a Strawsonian theme Gary Watson; 12. Statistical norms and moral attributions Ferdinand Schoeman; 13. Guilt, punishment and, desert Richard Burgh; 14. Intention, foreseeability, and responsibility Gerald Dworkin; Index of names.

Editorial Reviews

"...an invaluable, possibly ground-breaking, collection of hitherto unpublished essays by authors (philosophers, lawyers, and psychologists), many of whom are well known for their work in the area. The essays are all highly orginal or suggestive, and the introduction contains a brief summary of each." Ethics, July 1989

"...Schoeman has put together a collection of essays, which contains an index of names, that will repay careful study because important new issues are raised and important old issues are raised in a new light. This collection is very highly recommended. It should occasion much fruitful philosophical discussion." Laurence Thomas, Ethics, July 1989

From the Publisher