Strawson's Way of Naturalizing Responsibility

Epigram, Pantheists and Freethought in Hume's Treatise : A Study in Esoteric Communication

Annette Baier, A Progress of Sentiments

Hume's Treatise and the Clarke-Collins Controversy

Wishart, Baxter and Hume's Letter from a Gentleman

Clarke's 'Almighty Space' and Hume's Treatise

Smith on Moral Sentiment and Moral Luck

Compatibilist-Fatalism

Pessimists, Pollyannas, and the New Compatibilism

This article examines a number of contemporary compatibilist views on freedom and responsibility. The discussion is organized around themes from Daniel Dennett's influential compatibilist work, Elbow Room (1984), and in the light of these themes the article also considers other compatibilist views, including those of Paul Benson, Martha Klein, John Fischer and Mark Ravizza, Robert Audi, and Kevin

The Material World and Natural Religion in Hume’s Treatise

Critical Notice : John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza, Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility

Responsibility and the Condition of Moral Sense

Butler’s ‘Future State’ and Hume’s ‘Guide of Life’

In this paper I argue that Hume's famous discussion of probability and induction, as originally presented in the Treatise, is significantly motivated by irreligious objectives. A particular target of Hume's arguments is Joseph Butler's Analogy of Religion. In the Analogy Butler intends to persuade his readers of both the credibility and practical importance of the doctrine of a future state of rew

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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

Practical Reason and Motivational Scepticism

Moral Sense and Virtue in Hume’s Ethics

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

Hume’s Lucretian Mission : Is it Self-Refuting?

Free Will, Art and Morality

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

Selective Hard Compatibilism

The Free Will Problem

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