Arts and Humanities Commons^™

On The Signpost Principle Of Alternate Possibilities: Why Contemporary Frankfurt-Style Cases Are Irrelevant To The Free Will Debate, William Simkulet

Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Faculty Publications

This article contends that recent attempts to construct Frankfurt-style cases (FSCs) are irrelevant to the debate over free will. The principle of alternate possibilities (PAP) states that moral responsibility requires indeterminism, or multiple possible futures. Frankfurt's original case purported to demonstrate PAP false by showing an agent can be blameworthy despite not having the ability to choose otherwise; however he admits the agent can come to that choice freely or by force, and thus has alternate possibilities. Neo-FSCs attempt to show that alternate possibilities are irrelevant to explaining an agent's moral responsibility, but a successful Neo-FSC would be consistent with …