Article Unreflectively accepts leaders orders: he wants to want this. However, unspoken among the delegates was the knowledge that George Washington would become the first president , and they trusted him to define the office. During that year, the international Jean Piaget Society was formed, and the society, as well as Piaget's influence, endure. We felt, however, that the dilemma had to be stated, to show what kind of alternative method of protection will have to be considered if no successful international agreement is reached. In stating that S could have done otherwise, I am endorsing the view (much as I take Frankfurt to have done when formulating PAP) that: It is possible for S to do otherwise insofar as S is both physically and mentally capable of doing otherwise (including being aware of alternate possibilities that he/she (hereafter he) is able to select/perform). the universe, morality, well-ordered laws of nature, etc.). June 14, 2022 . The advantage of PAP(s) over Frankfurts original PAP, however, is that should (a) and/or (b) fail to be satisfied then this does not rule out the possibility that S is nevertheless morally responsible for E. Under the terms of the original PAP, the possibility just described would not exist; which of course Frankfurt, through the use of his counter-example, tried to show was an erroneous outcome: for, intuitively, we feel that S is still responsible for what he does, even though he could not have done otherwise. Whatever E happens to be, it is congruent across the different worlds within each respective scenario: E is congruent across W1 and W2 within scenario 1 and congruent across W1 and W2 within scenario 2. Garry Young. Question 10. The attitude of American public opinion, mentioned earlier, in the matter of the use of poison gas against Japan, shows that one can expect the American public to understand that it is sometimes desirable to keep a weapon in readiness for use only in extreme emergency; and as soon as the potentialities of nuclear weapons are revealed to the American people, one can be sure that they will support all attempts to make the use of such weapons impossible. Why, according to Kane, does this example fail to show what Dennett thinks it shows?, Frankfurt Examples. In 1923, theJournalwas incorporated in the State of New York under its present name. In 1962 Franck was the only artist invited to draw all four sessions of . For those unfamiliar with Frankfurts original and much cited counter-example to PAP, it reads as follows: Suppose someone Black, let us say wants Jones to perform a certain action. Frankfurt, H. (1969). A person that can only act on strongest desire at the time. Writing that American skyscrapers have yet to earn the title of architecture, but are merely small objects such as statuettes or knick-knacks, magnified to titanic proportion, Le Corbusier proposes his plan for the skyscraper. Does libertarian freedom require alternate possibilities? This site is using cookies under cookie policy . Neither Le Corbusier nor Frank Lloyd Wright could truly be said to have won the argument played out in the 1930s newspaper, as both got some ideas right and many wrong. An agreement on a higher level, involving more mutual trust and understanding, would be to allow unlimited production, but keep exact bookkeeping on the fate of each pound of uranium mined. I argue that PAP does not need to be endorsed as a necessary condition for moral responsibility and, in fact, presenting PAP as a sufficient condition maintains its usefulness as a maxim for moral accountability whilst avoiding . Which claim is best supported by the evidence included in these maps-, Nationalistic movements influenced the borders in Europe at the end of World War I, The Balkans were referred to as the' "Powder keg of Europe" in the period before WWI because of their-, Blamed jews for Germany's loss of World War I, The Nuremberg Laws were written in order to, What is an immediate result of these laws enacted by the Nazi Party--, German Jews were stripped of personal liberties and property rights, Between which two years did the number of collective farms increase the most, Which of the following events was a result of the policy illustrated in the chart-, Which claim can best be supported by this passage-, New technology made warfare more destructive, Which of the following is a result of the historical trend present in the passage-, What implications is the author trying to make in the excerpt-, the Japanese militaristic culture fostered a dehumanization Chinese civilians lives, Which best helps explain the passage in its broader historical context-, The consequences of total war tactics on civilian populations, The example of mass atrocity and genocide introduced in the passage is most similar to which of the following examples, The allied forces firebombing of German cities like Hamburg or Dresden killing thousands, Social Studies American History: Reconstruction to the Present Guided Reading Workbook. Young, G. The Principle of Alternate Possibilities as Sufficient but not Necessary for Moral Responsibility: A way to Avoid the Frankfurt Counter-Example. ), Faith, freedom, and rationality (pp. b) It is undoubtedly true that the discovery of flying, for example, has so far brought much more misery than enjoyment and profit to humanity. In the context of Frankfurts scenario, which I am equating to W1, it is made clear that Jones did what he did irrespective of Blacks wishes, and therefore without the need for Blacks intervention. In J. Jordan, & D. Howard-Snyder (Eds. Why deck or double-deck or triple-deck the city streets at a cost of billions of dollars, only to invite increase and meet inevitable defeat? Wright asks of Le Corbusiers autostrades. (a) Describe: How does the father react to the stranger's request to look around? 7388). Typically, we want to ascribe moral responsibility to Jones because he decided to carry out an act that, let us say, we judge to be morally reprehensible. Donnelly argues both 'radical' cultural relativism and 'radical' universalism are misguided (1984, 403). German scientists, in whose discoveries the whole development of this field originated, apparently did not develop it during the war to the same extent to which this has been done in America: but to the last day of the European war, we were living in constant apprehension as to their possible achievements. In the latter case, alternative possibilities are used in a more hypothetical context to assess if S would have been affected by their availability to the point of selecting one of these options should they have been available. This protection can come only from the political organization of the world. He can place his "infernal machines" in advance in all our major cities and explode them simultaneously, thus destroying a major part of our industry and a large part of our population, aggregated in densely populated metropolitan districts. It may be very difficult to persuade the world that a nation which was capable of secretly preparing and suddenly releasing a new weapon, as indiscriminately as the rocket bomb and a thousand times more destructive, is to be trusted in its proclaimed desire of having such weapons abolished by international agreement. Philosophical Studies, 157, 177194. is a place where people live, work, and spend their time. Connect to ambivalence. Alternate possibilities and moral responsibility. There is only rent., Stating that Broadacre City is the only democratic form for a city due to its systematic integration of individual units, Wright embraces the existing highway system. By insisting on either of these conditions for the ascription of moral responsibility, we also preserve some role for alternate possibilities, thereby making it necessary that they feature in our moral decision making in some form or other. Beyond the towers themselves, his vision includes broader recommendations for city life, most notably the separation of pedestrians and cars. The only reason to treat nuclear power differently from all other developments in the field of physics is the possibility of its use as a means of political pressure in peace and sudden destruction in war. In the past, science has often been able to provide also new methods of protection against new weapons of aggression it made possible, but it cannot promise such efficient protection against the destructive use of nuclear power. Pereboom, D. (2009). The best possible atmosphere for the achievement of an international agreement could be achieved if America could say to the world, "You see what sort of a weapon we had but did not use. We are fully aware of the staggering difficulties involved in such a radical change in the social and economic structure of our nation. Wholehearted commitment: we reach a level where we realize there is no need for further assessment. In this way, the money spent on wartime development of nucleonics may become a boon for the peacetime development of national economy. The amounts of ore taken out of the ground at different locations could be controlled by resident agents of the international Control Board, and each nation could be allotted only an amount which would make large-scale separation of fissionable isotopes impossible. As a sufficient condition for moral responsibility, the principle of alternate possibilities reads as follows: A person is morally responsible for what they have done if they could have done otherwise. Csar Franck Biography. Riding somewhat roughshod over this debate and allowing that the sign does not indicate an alternate possibility (and therefore a flicker of freedom) because we do not need it too the twin world condition requires a comparison between S (or Jones or whoever) in W1 (where we allow no alternate possibility to exist) with S in W2 (where alternate possibilities incontrovertibly exist). Just because a potential enemy will be afraid of being "outnumbered and outgunned," the temptation for him may be overwhelming to attempt a sudden unprovoked blow -- particularly if he should suspect us of harboring aggressive intentions against his security or his sphere of influence. Our possibilities of retaliation -- even if retaliation should be considered adequate compensation for the loss of millions of lives and destruction of our largest cities -- will be greatly handicapped because we must rely on aerial transportation of the bombs, and also because we may have to deal with an enemy whose industry and population are dispersed over a large territory. I therefore seek to distinguish between alternative possibilities in the form of the alleged necessity of being able to do otherwise on a given occasion, which S cannot satisfy in Frankfurt-style scenarios, and which I do not consider to be necessary for the ascription of moral responsibility (although, to reiterate, I accept it is sufficient), and the role played by alternative possibilities in the twin world condition. Russia and China are the only great nations at present which could survive a nuclear attack. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. Example 1. Between 1958-1961, he served as a doctor on the staff of renowned missionary and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer in Africa. What is necessary is that either PAP(s) or the twin world condition is satisfied. a) Again, S fails to satisfy PAP(s) and the twin world condition, and so is not morally responsible for E, even though E is a good thing to have done in this case. In the war to which such an armaments race is likely to lead, the United States, with its agglomeration of population and industry in comparatively few metropolitan districts, will be at a disadvantage compared to nations whose populations and industry are scattered over large areas. Ethics, 101(2), 258278. All present plans for the organization of research, scientific and industrial development, and publication in the field of nucleonics are conditioned by the political and military climate in which one expects those plans to be carried out. But in each scenario, S is also morally responsible for E in W1 in virtue of the fact that Ss action in W1 is congruent with Ss action in W2 (it is congruent with what S would have done in a world with alternate possibilities). Question:Contemporaries who agreed with francks argument in the second and third paragraphs regarding the need for an international agreement would most likely have made which of the following arguments to support their position?