Instructor: James Woodbridge
email address: jw79@is9.nyu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 11am-1pm
Office: Main Building 503-O
Office Phone: 998-8330
Dept. Phone: 998-8320

TA: Chris Towl
email address: cst211@is9.nyu.edu
Office Hours: Thursday 12:30pm-2pm

Pick one of following topics and write a 4-6 page paper fulfilling the tasks assigned.

Your paper is due in the Philosophy Dept. (503 Main Building) no later than 4pm Friday, December 15th. I will be in my office (503-O Main Building) from 3pm to 4pm.

Topics:

1. Explain the metaphysical issue of free will, including why we think it is important. What is the fundamental question, and what other kind of freedom gets confused with freedom of the will if this question is not identified? Explain what determinism is and why thinking about free will in the way indicated above makes the two seem incompatible. In "Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person," Harry Frankfurt presents an interesting account of free will that he claims makes free will compatible with determinism (as well as with indeterminism or some "third" possibility). Explain his conception of free will and why he thinks it is compatible with determinism. (Be sure to indicate how his claim of compatibility does not involve the confusion referenced above.) Frankfurt also claims to detach the notion of free will from its traditional connection to the notion of moral responsibility. Explain how on his view people can be morally responsible even when they do not have free will. Finally, assess Frankfurt's view. If his account were adequate, would it show that free will is compatible with determinism and that one does not need to be acting with free will to be morally responsible? Does his account address the fundamental question in the issue of free will adequately? Support your evaluations with reasons.

2. John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant look at the nature of morality from opposite directions. Explain the general difference between Mill's utilitarianism and Kant's deontological view and why each approaches the issue from the direction he does. Develop two examples of your own, each of which involves a choice between two courses of action. Set the examples up so that if the agent uses Kant's methods to determine which action is moral she will get one answer, while if she uses Mill's criteria she will get the other answer. Also craft the examples so that the Kantian answer seems intuitively right for one, while the Millian answer seems intuitively right for the other. Be sure to describe the scenarios carefully so that it is clear how the opposing ethical theories will assess them. Give the details of these assessments, that is, of the steps involved in evaluating the circumstances you describe from the two different ethical perspectives. (So, you have two examples and four evaluations--a Kantian one and a Millian one for each example.) In light of your account of how the two views of morality would handle the examples you describe, discuss which perspective on morality you think is best. Support your opinion with reasons.