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PHILOSOPHY PROFILE

Harry Frankfurt

1969

START WITH THE PUZZLE

If an intervener could block every alternative but never touches the actual decision, does the absence of alternatives remove responsibility?

Evidence-backed moments
2
Timeline events
1
Verified places
0

This is a guided intellectual story assembled from verified claims, works, and events in which this thinker actually appears. It avoids filling gaps with a generic encyclopedia biography.

Why this thinker is worth following

Story 1Can we be responsible if we could not have done otherwise?

Frankfurt — Acting for one’s own reasons without alternatives

The question that opens it

If an intervener could block every alternative but never touches the actual decision, does the absence of alternatives remove responsibility?

Follow the argument, not just the name
  1. 1

    The Principle of Alternative Possibilities says a person is morally responsible only if they could have done otherwise.

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    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Moral Responsibility and the Principle of Alternative Possibilities

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: Introduction; Principle of Alternative Possibilities

      Open source
  2. 2

    Frankfurt-style cases argue for responsibility without alternatives, but objections continue over residual flickers of freedom and whether the cases presuppose determinism.

    Check the evidence

    This is an evidence-linked editorial account, not a direct quotation.

    • Moral Responsibility and the Principle of Alternative Possibilities

      Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

      Locator: §3.4.3 Frankfurt-Style Cases; §4 Objections

      Open source
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Decisive moments in time

  1. 1969

    Frankfurt's article shifts attention from alternative possibilities to the actual source of action.

    PerspectiveOpen in question

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