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

An examination of the responsibility individuals have for their actions and characters.

Ferdinand Schoeman (Edited by)

9780521339513, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 February 1988

372 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.61 kg

"...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

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 the following: What scope is there for regarding a person as responsible for his or her character given genetic and environmental factors? Does an account of responsibility provide a legitimate basis for the retributive emotions? Are we ever justified in feeling guilty for occurences over which we have no control? Does responsibility for the consequences of our acts require that they were intended or simply expected? How have a number of influential previous philosophers, including Aristotle, Maimonides, and Spinoza, approached these questions?

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.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]