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person1960s-present

Harry Frankfurt

Disciplines:
ethics
philosophy of action
philosophy/free will

Summary

American philosopher who developed the hierarchical account of free will and the Frankfurt cases against the principle of alternate possibilities — and wrote On Bullshit, the most-read philosophical essay in history.

Core Contribution

Frankfurt cases: you can be morally responsible for an action even if you could not have done otherwise — if a counterfactual intervener would have made you act the same way, you are still responsible. Hierarchical free will: free will consists in having your first-order desires conform to your second-order volitions about what desires you want to have. On Bullshit: bullshit differs from lying — the liar cares about truth (to subvert it); the bullshitter is indifferent to truth.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • On Bullshit became a bestseller — a philosophical essay in the analytic tradition read by millions, demonstrating that rigorously defined philosophical analysis can illuminate everyday phenomena.
  • Frankfurt cases generated one of the most productive debates in free will theory — compatibilists and incompatibilists have produced dozens of responses and counter-responses, with no consensus.
  • The hierarchical account of the self: I am my second-order volitions — what I want to want — more than my first-order desires; addiction represents the failure of one's second-order will to govern first-order desires.

Notable Works & Achievements

Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person

The Importance of What We Care About

On Bullshit

Taking Ourselves Seriously and Getting It Right

Historical Influences

P. F. Strawson Roderick Chisholm

Intellectual Lineage

Analytic Philosophy Philosophy of Action

Contemporaries & Peers

Gary Watson Peter Strawson

Minds Influenced

Gary Watson Susan Wolf

Intellectual Posterity

Frankfurt CasesHierarchical Free WillBullshit Studies

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