The Importance of What We Care About
Philosophical Essays

A collection of thirteen seminal essays on ethics, free will, and the philosophy of mind, first published in 1988.

Harry G. Frankfurt (Author)

9780521336116, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 May 1988

202 pages
23 x 15.4 x 1.3 cm, 0.323 kg

'Harry G. Frankfurt is one of the great philosophers of our time. For those who lament that contemporary academic philosophy has become too technical and detached from basic questions of human meaning and value, . . .[On Bullshit is] a breath of fresh air.' Robert George, Princeton University, Princeton Alumni Weekly

This 1988 volume is a collection of thirteen seminal essays on ethics, free will, and the philosophy of mind. The essays deal with such central topics as freedom of the will, moral responsibility, the concept of a person, the structure of the will, the nature of action, the constitution of the self, and the theory of personal ideals. By focusing on the distinctive nature of human freedom, Professor Frankfurt is able to explore fundamental problems of what it is to be a person and of what one should care about in life.

Preface
Sources
1. Alternate possibilities and moral responsibility
2. Freedom of the will and the concept of a person
3. Coercion and moral responsibility
4. Three concepts of free action
5. Identification and externality
6. The problem of action
7. The importance of what we care about
8. What we are mortally responsible for
9. Necessity and desire
10. On bullshit
11. Equality as a moral ideal
12. Identification and wholeheartedness
13. Rationality and the unthinkable.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]