#784 Paul Russell: Free Will and Moral Responsibility
RECORDED ON JANUARY 30th 2023.
Dr. Paul Russell is Professor of Philosophy at Lund University (half-time appointment since 2018). He also serves as Director of the Lund|Gothenburg Responsibility Project (LGRP). Dr. Russell’s interests cover the areas of free will and moral responsibility along with various topics in early modern philosophy. Within the area of free will and moral responsibility he is particularly interested in the challenge of skepticism and theories of responsibility that appeal to reactive attitudes or moral sentiments. On the subject of early modern philosophy, he is especially concerned with the philosophy of David Hume and how his philosophy relates to problems of religion and atheism.
In this episode, we talk about free will and moral responsibility. We start by talking about how to approach free will from the perspective of Philosophy, and we discuss the necessary conditions for its existence. We talk about the relationship between free will and moral responsibility. We address the challenge of skepticism. We discuss moral sentiments, and how they connect to questions of moral responsibility. Finally, we talk about reactive attitudes, blame, punishment, and retribution; and how people who do wrong can be morally motivated.
Time Links:
Intro
Approaching free will from a philosophical perspective
What are the necessary conditions for the existence of free will?
The relationship between free will and moral responsibility
The challenge of skepticism
What are moral sentiments, and how do they tie to questions surrounding moral responsibility?
Reactive attitudes, blame, punishment, and retribution
How people who do wrong can be morally motivated
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Follow Dr. Russell’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3qjtECS
Website: https://bit.ly/3Qrsi3A
PhilPeople profile: https://bit.ly/3AUNedI