Home > Subject index > Philosophy > Table of contents
Subject: Philosophy  Book Title: Freedom and Moral Sentiment
Freedom and Moral Sentiment
Hume's Way of Naturalizing Responsibility
Russell, Paul Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of British Columbia
Print publication date: 2002
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-19-515290-6
doi:10.1093/0195152905.001.0001
 
Abstract: This book presents a critical examination of Hume's views on the subject of freedom and moral responsibility. It is widely held that Hume's discussions “Of liberty and necessity,” as presented in both the Treatise and first Enquiry, constitute the classical statement of the “compatibilist” position – the view that freedom and moral responsibility cannot only be reconciled with causation but actually require it. According to the classical interpretation, what is central to Hume's strategy is a distinction between two kinds of freedom: a freedom that implies the absence of causation and a freedom that implies the absence of compulsion. Hume is understood as claiming that it is the second kind of freedom that is required for moral responsibility, whereas the first kind would make moral responsibility impossible. The general argument leading to this conclusion is taken to be essentially logical or conceptual in character. Contrary to the classical interpretation, I argue that it is the workings of moral sentiment, and not the concept of freedom that is fundamental to Hume's views concerning moral responsibility. More specifically, the compatibilist strategy that Hume pursues must be interpreted in terms of his detailed description of the circumstances in which people are felt to be responsible. These naturalistic commitments are directly relevant to Hume's complex understanding of how freedom relates to responsibility. It is his view that we must not exaggerate the importance of voluntariness and control for moral responsibility. These “naturalistic” aspects of Hume's position are not only crucial to understanding the nature and character of his own (distinctive) position on this subject they are also the key to understanding the considerable contemporary relevance of his naturalistic approach (e.g., in relation to P. F. Strawson's influential contributions on this subject).

Keywords: causation, compatibilism, conceptual analysis, determinism, free will, history of philosophy, Hume, libertarianism, metaphysics, naturalism, responsibility, secularism, voluntarism
Table of Contents
Introduction
You have access to the full text for this item.
1. Logic, “Liberty”, and the Metaphysics of Responsibility
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
2. Minding the Matter of Necessity: A Paradox Regarding Causation
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
3. Causation, Compulsion, and Compatibilism
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
4. The Naturalism of Hume's “Reconciling Project”
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
5. Hume's Naturalism and Strawson's Reconciling Project
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
6. The Content and Objects of Moral Sentiment
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
7. Action, Character, and Excuses
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
8. Will, Intention, Feeling: The Indications of Character
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
9. The Involuntary Nature of Moral Character
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
10. Retributive Feeling and the Utility of Punishment
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
11. Pride, Fortune, and the Godless Man
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
12. Responsibility Naturalized: A Qualified Defence of Hume
You have access to the abstract and full text for this item.     You have access to the full text for this item.
Bibliography
You have access to the full text for this item.
Index
You have access to the full text for this item.
doi:10.1093/0195152905.001.0001
Quick Search Form
 
scroll up fast
scroll up
 
scroll down
scroll down fast
I The Necessity of Moral Sentiment
II The Elements of Responsibility