1. The Presumption of Open Alternatives As practical beings, we act with a sense of freedom, or, to use Kant’s memorable phrase, “unter der Idee der Freiheit.” This attitude is present whenever we are deciding what to do, and it is most clearly revealed when we reflect on what we take for granted while deliberating. Consider a young man, Imad, who lives under an oppressive military occupation a...

This paper identifies human enhancement as one of the most significant areas of bioethical interest in the last twenty years. It discusses in more detail one area, namely moral enhancement, which is generating significant contemporary interest. The author argues that so far from being susceptible to new forms of high tech manipulation, either genetic, chemical, surgical or neurological, the onl...

1. Two principles of libertarianism A libertarian about free will typically holds at least one of the following two principles (see e.g. Kane 1996, though these are our formulations). The Principle of Alternate Possibilities (AP): I could have acted otherwise. Generally: for any free agent x, and action A performed by x in circumstances C at time t, then there was another action A', where A  A...

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optimistically called Sex and Christian Freedom should fail to make any distinction between pre-marital and extra-marital sex. Dr. Hodgson's treatment of the theological side of his theme is thoughtful and undogmatic; his argument that true Christianity involves the perpetual evolution of a code rather than its fossilisation, is persuasive. But outside the Christian pale, his assessment of habi...

This issue of Journal of Medical Ethics includes a pair of papers debating the implications of moral bioenhancement for human freedom–and, especially, the question of whether moral enhancement should potentially be compulsory. In earlier writings Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu (P&S) argue that compulsory moral bioenhancement may be necessary to prevent against catastrophic harms that might...

and freedom," I was puzzled and intrigued. Most of my professional life has been devoted to the study of language. There would be no great difficulty in finding a topic to discuss in that domain. And there is much to say about the problems of freedom and liberation as they pose themselves to us and to others in the mid-twentieth century. What is troublesome in the title of this lecture is the c...

This paper shall attempt to reconcile environmentalism and economic freedom. Before making this seemingly quixotic endeavor, we must be sure we are clear on both concepts. Environmentalism may be non controversially defined as a philosophy which sees great benefit in clean air and water, and to a lowered rate of species extinction. Environmentalists are particularly concerned with the survival ...

In recent years, compatibilism has been the target of two powerful challenges. According to the consequence argument, if everything we do and think is a consequence of factors beyond our control (past events and the laws of nature), and the consequences of what is beyond our control are themselves beyond our control, then no one has control over what they do or think and no one is responsible f...