Freedom, foreknowledge, and the principle of alternate possibilities

Canadian Journal of Philosophy

Volumn 30, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 1-23

  Vihvelin, Kadri ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33845347377     PISSN: 00455091     EISSN: 19110820     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00455091.2000.10717523     Document Type: Article

References (34)

1. Frankfurt, Harry. 1969. ‘Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility,’. Journal of Philosophy, 66: 829–39. reprinted in Frankfurt's The Importance of What We Care About: Philosophical Essays (New York: Cambridge University Press 1988), 1–10. Page references are to the reprinted version.
2. 1911. “ 6 ”. In Ethics New York: Oxford University Press. At one time, discussions of the free will problem began with G.E. Moore's observation that if determinism is true, then there is one sense of ‘can’ in which no one can ever do otherwise: it is inconsistent with the past and the laws of nature that anyone does other than what they actually do. On the other hand, if by ‘S can do otherwise,’ we mean something like ‘if S chose to do otherwise, he would’ or ‘if S had what he took to be good reasons for doing otherwise, he would,’ then the truth of determinism is consistent with its being sometimes true that agents can do otherwise. Until the publication of Frankfurt's article, it had been assumed that the question of the compatibility of freedom and moral responsibility with determinism turned on the question of whether any conditional (or, perhaps, dispositional) analysis of ‘can’ succeeds in capturing what we ordinarily mean when we say, in contexts relevant to moral obligation and responsibility, ‘he could have done otherwise’ (G.E. Moore,], chap.).
3. 1973. Essays on Actions and Events New York: Oxford University Press. The literature is enormous and shows no signs of slowing down. Here's a partial list: Donald Davidson, ‘Freedom to Act,’ in his (Robert Heinaman, ‘Incompatibilism without the Principle of Alternative Possibilities,’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy64 (1986) 266–76; Ishtiyaque Haji, ‘A Riddle Concerning Omissions,’ Canadian Journal of Philosophy22 (1992) 485–502; Timothy O'Connor, ‘Alternative Possibilities and Responsibility,’ Southern Journal of Philosophy31 (1993) 345–75; David Zimmerman, ‘Acts, Omissions, and Semi-Compatibilism,’ Philosophical Studies73 (1994) 209–23; Alison McIntyre, ‘Compatibilists Could have done Otherwise: Responsibility and Negative Agency,’ Philosophical Review103 (1994) 453–88; Randolph Clarke, ‘Ability and Responsibility for Omissions,’ Philosophical Studies73 (1994) 195–208; Walter Glannon, ‘Responsibility and the Principle of Possible Action,’ Journal of Philosophy92 (1995) 261–74; Alfred Mele, ‘Soft Libertarianism and Frankfurt-Style Scenarios,’ Philosophical Topics24 (1996) 123–41; David Copp, ‘Defending the Principle of Alternate Possibilities: Blameworthiness and Moral Responsibility,’ Nous31 (1997) 441–58; Michael della Rocca, ‘Frankfurt, Fischer, and Flickers,’ Nous32 (1998) 99–105; Michael Otsuka, ‘Incompatibilism and the Avoidability of Blame,’ Ethics108 (1998) 685–701. For a bibliography of more articles, see John Fischer, ‘Recent Work on Moral Responsibility,’ Ethics110 (1999) 93–139. See also the references in subsequent notes.
4. Or at least one kind of Frankfurt story. I will be arguing that this isn't the kind of Frankfurt story that we need.
5. 1996. 403–17. Or at least everyone should agree that there is some natural way of individuating actions, events, and states of affairs such that a person may be responsible for an action, event, or state of affairs despite the fact that she could not have avoided performing that action or causing that event or state of affairs. It is, of course, possible to defend PAP' by insisting that in overdetermination or causal pre-emption scenarios events (actions, etc.) are individuated more finely and that the agent is responsible only for this more finely individuated event, action, or state of affairs. For an example of this way of responding to Frankfurt, see Carl Ginet, ‘In Defense of the Principle of Alternative Possibilities: Why I Don't Find Frankfurt's Argument Convincing,’ Philosophical Perspectives10
6. For instance, he says: ‘This, then, is why the principle of alternate possibilities is mistaken. It asserts that a person bears no moral responsibility— that is, he is to be excused— for having performed an action, if there were circumstances that made it impossible for him to avoid performing it’ (Frankfurt, 8–9).
7. 1994. “ 7 ”. In Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting See, for instance, Daniel Dennett, (Cambridge, MA: Bradford Books 1984), 132; John Fischer, The Metaphysics of Free Will (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers chap. Ishtiyaque Haji, Moral Appraisability (New York: Oxford University Press 1998), chap. 2
8. David, David. 1995. ‘Libertarianism and Frankfurt's Attack on the Principle of Alternative Possibilities,’. Philosophical Review, 104: 247–61. Cf. and Robert Kane, The Significance of Free Will (New York: Oxford University Press 1998), 142–3 and 191–2.
9. 1983. “ 5 ”. In An Essay on Free Will Oxford: Clarendon Press. See, for instance, Peter van Inwagen, chap. and M. Naylor, ‘Frankfurt on the Principle of Alternate Possibilities,’ Philosophical Studies46 (1984) 249–58.
10. Fischer. The Metaphysics of Free Will See 136 and 145. See also Frankfurt, 6 n.3.
11. 1995. Autonomous Agents 101New York: Oxford University Press. See, for instance, Alfred Mele, n.18 and 141–2, and Fischer, ‘Libertarianism and Avoidability: A Reply to Widerker,’ Faith and Philosophy12 (1995) 119–25.
12. Fischer. The Metaphysics of Free Will 134–47.
13. Philosophical Studies, 319 For one dissenting compatibilist, see Joseph Keim Campbell, ‘A Compatibilist Theory of Alternative Possibilities,’ 88 (1997,–30
14. In my discussions of conditional and counterfactual intervention, I will be using ‘decision’ or ‘choice’ to refer to the mental acts that Black controls. But nothing hinges on this. If you have a different theory about the mental goings-on or acts that ‘ground’ or are relevant to an agent's moral responsibility, then feel free to make the relevant substitutions. Just remember that the difference between conditional and counterfactual intervention lies in the fact that the counterfactual intervener's interventions are causally triggered by something that occurs before the relevant mental act or goings-on even begins to takes place, whereas the conditional intervener's interventions are triggered by the beginnings of the relevant mental act or goings-on.
15. ‘[He] waits until Jones is about to make up his mind what to do, and he does nothing unless it is clear to him (Black is an excellent judge of such things) that Jones is going to decide to do something other than what he wants him to do. If it does become clear that Jones is going to decide to do something else, Black takes effective steps to ensure that Jones decides to do, and that he does do, what he wants him to do. Whatever Jones's initial preferences and inclinations, then, Black will have his way’ (Frankfurt, 6).
16. Blumenfeld. 1971. ‘The Principle of Alternate Possibilities,’. Journal of Philosophy, 68: 339–45.
17. Locke, John. “ 21 ”. In An Essay Concerning Human Understanding bk. 2, chap. sec.10
18. The Philosophical Review, 97 See, for instance, David Robb and Alfred Mele, ‘Rescuing Frankfurt-Style Cases,’ 107 (1998,–113, and David Hunt, ‘Moral Responsibility and Unavoidable Action,’ Philosophical Studies, forthcoming.
19. Note that it is only in the counterfactual scenario in which Jones's freedom of will is of brief duration. In the actual scenario— where Black does not intervene— Jones retains freedom of will at all relevant times. His freedom is fragile, insofar as he continues to enjoy it only so long as he continues to make the choices (form the intentions and resolutions, etc.) that Black wants him to make. But in this respect he differs from the rest of us in degree rather than in kind. For our freedom of will is also fragile; we continue to enjoy it only so long as we are not struck by a bullet, a fast car. or a stroke.
20. Journal of Philosophy, A possible exception is James Lamb (‘Evaluative Compatibilism and the Principle of Alternate Possibilities,’ 90 [1993] 517–27). However, Lamb's criticism of Frankfurt's argument is marred by the fact that he fails to recognize the distinction between conditional and counterfactual intervention. In their response to Lamb, John Fischer and Paul Hoffman also fail to notice the distinction (‘Alternative Possibilities: A Reply to Lamb,’ Journal of Philosophy91 [1994] 321–6).
21. In saying this, I do not mean to imply that only a genuinely chancy coin toss is a fair one. But for the purposes of this story, I stipulate that this coin toss is fair in the most straightforward way; the laws of physics, together with facts about the coin and the environment in which it is tossed, assign an objective probability of.5 to the outcome heads and.5 to the outcome tails.
22. These people are in effect claiming, that, given the facts about Black's impressive track record, we are entitled to conclude that it's not just an accident that the coin always lands in the way that Black wants. They claim that the best explanation for the correlation between Black's desires and the outcome of the coin toss is that there is a lawlike but noncausal connection between some earlier event (the tickle or blush) and facts about what the outcome of any particular coin toss would be (in the absence of intervention). It is on the basis of this earlier event that Black makes his decision to either intervene or not.
23. These are people who argue that it's impossible for anyone, even someone with godlike knowledge, to know what the outcome of an indeterministic process would be (in the absence of intervention). However, even these people must I think concede that there is no contradiction in the following story: Black makes his predictions on the basis of a series of hunches about the fall of the coin and intervenes if and only if he predicts that the coin would otherwise land tails. The coin in fact always lands heads, about half the time due to objective chance (tested in the usual way), the other half due to Black's prior intervention (again, testable: he substitutes a weighted coin, or puts a magnet under the table). I thank Fred Dretske, Dagfin Follesdal, and others at Stanford for pressing this objection. See also notes 27, 28, and 29.
24. I stipulate this because I want to tell a story in which it's clear that Black is only a counterfactual intervener.
25. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Cf. the debate between Michael McDermott (‘Lewis on Causal Dependence,’ 73 [1995] 129–39, and ‘Reply to Ramachandran,’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy74 [1996], 330) and Murali Ramachandran (‘McDermott on Causation: A Counter-Example,’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy74 [1996] 328–9).
26. I am here assuming the standard reading of a ‘might’ counterfactual as equivalent to the negation of the corresponding ‘would-not’ counterfactual. (If p, it might be that q is true iff it's false that if p, it would not be the case that q.)
27. Faith and Philosophy, 119 Some supporters of Frankfurt appeal to the medieval doctrine of ‘middle knowledge’ which was invoked by Molina to explain God's knowledge of so-called ‘counterfactuals of freedom.’ Molina claimed that there are true counterfactuals about how an indeterministic free agent would choose in nonactual circumstances and that God's knowledge includes knowledge of these counterfactuals. See John Fischer, ‘Libertarianism and Avoidability: A Reply to Widerker,’ 12 (1995,–25. For a critical discussion of this view, see William Hasker, God, Time, and Knowledge (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 1989), 15–52.
28. That is, I think that Frankfurt's argument fails regardless of whether Jones's choice is an indeterministic event or a deterministic event (which may unproblematically be known in advance). The coin story could be reformulated as the story of a deterministic but genuinely fair coin toss. Roughly, a deterministic toss is a fair one if the coin can land either way given the laws and intrinsic facts about the coin, its environment, and the abilities of the tosser immediately before the coin toss. The last part is meant to rule out cases where the tosser has the ability to reliably bring it about that the coin lands a certain way. Even though, as Black's accomplice, I know THAT the coin will land heads every evening at the appointed time, it's false that I know HOW to make the coin land heads. If you asked me to do it again, I would be as likely to fail as succeed.
29. Do I need to stipulate that Black has knowledge, or does it suffice to say that somehow the coin always ends up landing in the way that Black wants it to land, whether because of Black's knowledge or because Black is an uncommonly lucky guy; a guesser with a 100% success rate?I'm not sure, because my aim is to construct a story with the same formal structure as a Frankfurt (counterfactual intervention) story and it's not clear what this is. Does the intuitive force of Frankfurt stories depend on Black's knowing what Jones will decide? Or is it enough that somehow Jones always ends up deciding in the way that Black wants him to decide, whether because of Black's knowledge or because Black is an extraordinarily reliable guesser? Or could it be that what makes the stories work is that we equivocate between these two ways of thinking of Black's powers? When we think of Jones as a morally responsible agent, we think that Black is just a very lucky guesser; when we think of Jones as someone who lacks alternatives, we think that Black knows his future choices. I leave this as a question to be debated among the followers of Frankfurt. In my criticism of Frankfurt I assume what Frankfurt assumed and what makes his case strongest; that Black knows what the outcome of an indeterministic process would be (in the absence of intervention). But my criticism stands intact if Black's success is due to an incredible run of luck.
30. Cf. Fischer: ‘If he were about to refrain (in the absence of intervention by an external agent or factor) the triggering event would already have occurred. [If the triggering event had already occurred, Black would have intervened and forced Jones to act, in which case Jones would not have been able to refrain.] If Jones were about to refrain, he would be rendered unable to refrain’ (‘Alternative Possibilities: A Reply to Lamb,’ 326).
31. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 125 J. Downing was the first to direct our attention to an instance of this fallacy in his ‘Subjunctive Conditionals, Time Order, and Causation,’ 59 (1958–59,–40. For discussion of this and other counterfactual fallacies, see David Lewis, Counterfactuals (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 1973), 31–6. See also Jonathan Bennett, ‘Counterfactuals and Temporal Direction,’ Philosophical Review931984 57–91
32. 1976. 145–52. I take a fatalist to be someone who argues, on the basis of considerations of truth and logic alone, that everything that happens, including everything we do, is necessary (unavoidable, could not have been otherwise, etc.). A classic form of fatalist reasoning is as follows: ‘It's true that I will eat corn flakes for breakfast tomorrow. Necessarily, if it's true that I will eat corn flakes for breakfast tomorrow, then I will eat corn flakes for breakfast tomorrow. So I must eat corn flakes for breakfast tomorrow.’ A slightly more subtle form of fatalist reasoning is represented by the following argument: ‘I can eat pancakes for breakfast tomorrow only if I can do so, given all the facts. But all the facts include facts about the future, including the fact that I will eat nothing but corn flakes for breakfast tomorrow. So I cannot eat pancakes for breakfast tomorrow.’ For a good discussion of other fatalist fallacies, see David Lewis, 'The Paradoxes of Time Travel, 'American Philosophical Quarterly13 reprinted in his Philosophical Papers Volume 2 (New York: Oxford University Press 1986), 67–80.
33. Of course a libertarian need not suppose that every choice is 50/50, and there can be room for the agent's past to weight the odds, but it should be clear that the preceding argument carries through however the odds are structured.
34. 1999. Canadian Journal of Philosophy Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the University of Southern California, Stanford University, and at the Pacific Division meetings of the APA. I thank audience members for their questions and helpful criticism. I'm also grateful to Mark Bernstein, Randolph Clarke, Ishtiyaque Haji, Frances Howard-Snyder, Hud Hudson, Robert Kane, Tomis Kapitan, Ned Markosian, Alfred Mele, Adam Morton, Murali Ramachandran, David Sanford, Howard Sobel, Dan Speak, Tim O'Connor, Peter van Inwagen, David Widerker, and two anonymous referees for the for written comments and helpful discussion. My deepest thanks and appreciation are to Terrance Tomkow.