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The paper argues that behind the veneer of orthodoxy that covers Smith's discussion in "The Theory of the Moral" "Sentiments" Smith presents theists with a fundamental dilemma: if there exists a fit between virtue and happiness in this world then there is no need for a future state since a future state is meant to rectify the injustices of this world. On the other hand, if there is no such fit the
On the face of it, Hume’s understanding of the relationship between virtue and moral sense seems clear enough. According to Hume, a virtue is a quality of mind or character trait that produces approval, and vice a quality of mind that produces blame ( T 614; cp. 473,575). This relationship between virtue and vice and our moral sentiments is described and analysed by Hume as part of his wider and m
The discussion in this paper begins with some observations regarding a number of structural similarities between art and morality as it involves human agency. On the basis of these observations we may ask whether or not incompatibilist worries about free will are relevant to both art and morality. One approach is to claim that libertarian free will is essential to our evaluations of merit and dese
This article examines the free will problem as it arises within Thomas Hobbes' naturalistic science of morals in early modern Europe. It explains that during this period, the problem of moral and legal responsibility became acute as mechanical philosophy was extended to human psychology and as a result human choices were explained in terms of desires and preferences rather than being represented a
This article discusses another important class of new compatibilist theories of agency and responsibility, frequently referred to as reactive attitude theories. Such theories have their roots in another seminal essay of modern free-will debates, P. F. Strawson's “Freedom and Resentment” (1962). This article disentangles three strands of Strawson's argument—rationalist, naturalist, and pragmatic. I
For well over a century the dominant narrative concerning the major thinkers and themes of early modern British philosophy has been that of “British Empiricism,” where the great triumvirate of Locke, Berkeley and Hume is taken to stand united in opposition to their counterparts in the “Continental Rationalist” tradition. This chapter argues that this way of categorizing the thinkers and issues in
The argument and discussion in this paper begins from the premise that Hume was an atheist who denied the religious or theist hypothesis. However, even if it is agreed that that Hume was an atheist this does not tell us where he stood on the question concerning the value of religion . Some atheists, such as Spinoza, have argued that society needs to maintain and preserve a form of “true religion ”
This chapter presents an interpretation of Bernard Williams’s significant and substantial contributions on the topic of free will and moral responsibility. Williams’s fundamental objective, it is argued, is to vindicate moral responsibility by way of freeing it from distortions and misrepresentations imposed on it by “the morality system.” Although his earlier work is primarily concerned with the
