Philosophy Colloquium: Carolina Sartorio

Please join us in welcoming Professor Carolina Sartorio from Rutgers University. Professor Sartorio will deliver a talk entitled: “A Simple but Powerful Idea.”

Abstract:

In a now classical paper, Harry Frankfurt identified actual explanations of actions as what’s relevant to our freedom and moral responsibility. Frankfurt argued that it’s simply why we do what we do—not what we could have done in its place, or whether we had the ability to do otherwise—that determines whether we act freely. This insight is, at the same time, simple and powerful—or, as John Fischer put it, “remarkably pedestrian and extraordinarily important.” In this paper I examine that simple but powerful idea. As simple as the idea is, it’s surprisingly easy to misconstrue it; in fact, I argue that it’s been misconstrued, in different ways, by both advocates and critics. It’s also surprisingly easy to fail to respect it; in fact, I argue that both Frankfurt’s and Fischer’s theories have trouble doing that. I discuss, first, how the idea should be articulated, and then, how to respect it.