Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals

by Pamela Hieronymi

An innovative reassessment of philosopher P. F. Strawson's influential "Freedom and Resentment"

P. F. Strawson was one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century, and his 1962 paper "Freedom and Resentment" is one of the most influential in modern moral philosophy, prompting responses across multiple disciplines, from psychology to sociology. In Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals, Pamela Hieronymi closely reexamines Strawson's paper and concludes that his argument has been underestimated and misunderstood.

Line by line, Hieronymi carefully untangles the complex strands of Strawson's ideas. After elucidating his conception of moral responsibility and his division between "reactive" and "objective" responses to the actions and attitudes of others, Hieronymi turns to his central argument. Strawson argues that, because determinism is an entirely general thesis, true of everyone at all times, its truth does not undermine moral responsibility. Hieronymi finds the two common interpretations of this argument, "the simple Humean interpretation" and "the broadly Wittgensteinian interpretation," both deficient. Drawing on Strawson's wider work in logic, philosophy of language, and metaphysics, Hieronymi concludes that his argument rests on an implicit, and previously overlooked, metaphysics of morals, one grounded in Strawson's "social naturalism." In the final chapter, she defends this naturalistic picture against objections.

Rigorous, concise, and insightful, Freedom, Resentment, and the Metaphysics of Morals sheds new light on Strawson's thinking and has profound implications for future work on free will, moral responsibility, and metaethics.

The book also features the complete text of Strawson's "Freedom and Resentment."

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

168 pages, Hardcover

Published May 26, 2020

Reviews

[Collide · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good deep-dive into a wildly insightful and influential paper. Hieronymi is a very clear writer and does well to repeat and spell out what are very difficult points. Her effort to spell out late Wittgenstein’s influence on Strawson made his view much more appealing to me (if it was just a Humean picture Strawson relied on, I would find the view a lot less appealing). Chapter 5 is the most difficult to deal with philosophically, which is to be expected since it seems like a small attempt to question some of the most important meta-ethical theories from history (not that it is necessarily uncalled for, but it feels quite fast where the suitable approach may be to tread carefully). This book has the Wittgensteinian and Aristotelian in me fighting, which I can only hope will eventually resolve into further insight into both philosophical perspectives.

[efenibot · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Wolf Van Tijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Precies waar ik naar opzoek was.
Als je geïnteresseerd bent in Freedom and Resentment, dan is dit boek een geweldige manier om de sterkste versie van Strawson's argument beter te begrijpen.

[Sarah Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really beautiful book. Highly recommend.