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Philosophy Essay
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Philosophy Essay
Alternative possibility and moral responsibility regarding the actions of human beings have always been an important point of study for the philosophers. The philosophers like Harry G. Frankfurt has explored the moral responsibility as well as the alternative possibility of the actions of the human beings and have presented the stance, that human beings are morally responsible for their actions, even if they were forced to do some action or had some possible alternative of that action. Most of the philosophers were of the view that if a person is forced to do an act, then he or she is not morally responsible for that action, on the basis of the clause that the person would have acted otherwise or even just thought about acting the other way, if they were presented with the alternative possibility of the situation of the action. In other words, the freedom of will of any person is quite important to acknowledge, in order to make the persons responsible for his action. On the other hand, Frankfurt dos not believe in this clause and share the point of view that moral responsibility does not hold any importance in terms of holding any person responsible for the actions committed or done by him. In this paper, I will argue the stance of Frankfurt that moral responsibility or free will is not important and each and every person is responsible for his actions and I will also explore the conditions presented by Frankfurt to support his claims.
Moral responsibility, free will, and principle of alternative possibility are the three terms which are specifically important in this debate of the responsibility of the actions of human beings; therefore it is quite important to explore the definitions of these terms. The very first out of them is the term moral responsibility which means that the persons deserve the praise, appreciation, even the blame, and guilt of their actions, in the case they are morally entitled to that action. The free will is another concept in philosophy which means that some person does some action on the basis of his own will and desire and is not forced by the outside forces to do some action, or act in a certain manner. The last most important concept is that of the principle of alternative possibility, which states that a person can only be held accountable for his actions; if he would have done otherwise in any kind of situation (Coren, 2018).
The principle of alternative possibility holds the most important position in the debate of moral responsibility and alternative possibility as presented by Frankfurt. A general belief of the philosophers is that a person can only be held morally accountable of doing some action, or even not doing it if he clearly had the alternative option of action and had acted otherwise. In other words, the moral responsibility of any action can only be placed on a person, if he had done the action out of his free will and was not pressurized or even manipulated to do the action through any sources. Another important thing to regard in this scenario is that the person would most probably have taken the chance of acting otherwise if the freedom of will was provided. Freedom of will is necessary for holding people morally responsible for their actions because of the fact that they are not pressurized or manipulated to do some action and is entitled to accept all the recognition, blame or appreciation of that particular action. This might be the case on the basis of the ability of human beings to take their decisions and choose the course of their action after thinking about each and every aspect of their outcomes. The philosophers are of the view that the human beings should be able to choose between two different alternatives, while making the decision regarding any action, on the basis of their free will (Kittle, 2018).
The stance of one of the most famous and recognized philosophers, Frankfurt in this regard is that the presence of the principle of alternative possibilities is not necessary in order to hold the people morally responsible of their actions. So, Frankfurt has falsified the need for the principle of alternative possibility from the scenario altogether. He is of the view that a person can be held morally accountable and responsible of his actions, irrespective of the fact that he would have made a different choice if he would have been provided with the alternative option of making the decision or free will. Frankfurt has tried to present the example of his stance through the case of Jones, who has been threatened greatly to do some action. Frankfurt argues that Jones is so scared of the threats that he has received that he decides to do what is demanded from him, ignoring the decision he had made utilizing his free will. One of the most important points highlighted by Frankfurt in this regard is that either jones did not want to act in a certain manner, therefore readily submitted to the threats and acted accordingly. So, the moral responsibility of his action is on him, as he as deliberately submitted to the threats (Coren, 2018).
On the other hand, another important stance shared by Frankfurt in this regard is that Jones was so scared of the threats that he forgot about his free will or making the alternative choice of getting out of the situation and just acted in the demanded way, in order to ensure his safety and security. In other words, he deliberately submitted to the situation and whatever was demanded of him, so he should be held morally responsible for his actions. he did not act according to the principle of the alternative possibility and he also would not have utilized it, which is the main point of focus of Frankfurt and also supports the point that jones should be held responsible of his actions, irrespective of the fact that he could have acted differently in the situation, because in reality, he would not have done so. According to Frankfurt’s point of view, the only thing necessary to hold someone responsible of their action is their free will of doing something and the principle of the alternative possible is not applicable in this regard. I agree with the point of view of Frankfurt because the person would have acted according to the situation, utilizing his or her free will and the alternative options would not have been able to impact the choices of the person in any given situation (Frankfurt, 1969).
Moral responsibility, free will and the principle of alternative possibility are some of the most important concepts in the subject of philosophy, which help the people, explore the general reasoning of their action. Frankfurt is of the view that only the free will of the people is enough to hold them morally responsible of their actions and the alternative possibility does not play any role in this regard as it is often ignored in most of the cases as well.
References
Coren, D. A. (2018). Alternate Possibilities and Moral Asymmetry. Acta Analytica, 1-15.
Frankfurt, H. G. (1969). Alternate possibilities and moral responsibility. The journal of philosophy, 66(23), 829-839.
Kittle, S. (2018). Does everyone think the ability to do otherwise is necessary for free will and moral responsibility?. Philosophia, 1-7.
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