Responsibility and the Moral Sentiments

Download or read book Responsibility and the Moral Sentiments written by R. Jay Wallace and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1998-01-08 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: R. Jay Wallace advances a powerful and sustained argument against the common view that accountability requires freedom of will. Instead, he maintains, the fairness of holding people responsible depends on their rational competence: the power to grasp moral reasons and to control their behavior accordingly. He shows how these forms of rational competence are compatible with determinism. At the same time, giving serious consideration to incompatibilist concerns, Wallace develops a compelling diagnosis of the common assumption that freedom is necessary for responsibility.