Agency and Responsibility: A Common-sense Moral Psychology

by Jeanette Kennett

Overview

Distinctions between recklessness, weakness of will, and compulsion have been the targets of much philosophical attack. Beginning with the problem of weakness of will, this volume builds an admirably comprehensive and integrated account of moral agency that highly regards the capacity for self-control. It addresses with clarity a range of important topics-such as the nature of valuing and desiring, conceptions of virtue, moral conflict, and the varieties of recklessness-making this work especially important to those interested in philosophy, psychology, law, and moral and legal responsibility in general.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199266302
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/11/2003
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Jeanette Kennett is lecturer in Philosophy at Monash University, Australia.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Moral Psychology and Common Sense2. Classical Theories of Reasons and Motivations3. Humean Accounts of Reason and Motivation: Davidson and Decision Theory4. Wanting and Valuing5. A Taxonomy of Agent-Control6. Moral Failures and Moral Responsibility: Recklessness, Weakness, Compulsion7. Moral Failure and Moral Responsibility: The Problem of EvildoersBibliography, Index

Editorial Reviews

"Jeanette Kennett has written a nicely balanced, informative and well-argued book on contemporary thought about agency and responsibility....There are several...pearls in this slim volume, such as Kennett's discussion of 'moral luck'...It is also worth mentioning that Kennett provides real life examples, rather than bizarre thought experiments or abstract logic to illuminate her points. Her approach is as democratic as are her claims about moral reasoning. There are several points where the author's warmth and commitment to a moral life come through while she manages the rigors of analytic philosophy. It is this final point that I find most appealing in this book. If one reads between the lines, you get the feeling that Kennett believes that moral health, mental health and the proper use of agency are, if not the same, intimately entwined. This book can be seen as both a primer on the subject as well as an explication of Kennett's theory."—Metapsychology (Mental Help Net's Bookstore)

"Agency and Responsibility is a penetrating treatment of its topic(s). The argument is painstakingly developed and richly supported by realistic examples....But since a review can't do justice to a complex and subtle work of this kind, I urge readers to see for themselves. The book is well worth reading."—Gary Watson, Mind

From the Publisher