Hinshelwood, A;
(2013)
WINNER OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATIONS ESSAY PRIZE 2013: The relations between agency, identification, and alienation.
Philosophical Explorations
, 16
(3)
243 - 258.
10.1080/13869795.2013.815260.
![[thumbnail of 13869795%2E2013%2E815260.pdf]](https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png) Preview |
PDF
13869795%2E2013%2E815260.pdf Available under License : See the attached licence file. Download (155kB) |
Abstract
This paper examines the relations between, on the one hand, accounts of the distinction between an agent's identifying with, as opposed to feeling alienated from, their attitudes; and on the other, metaphysical accounts of action. It claims that a commitment to an event-causal conception of agency, which would analyse agency in terms of the causal potency of psychological states and events, appears to render mandatory a particular style of account of identification and alienation – namely, the hierarchical model offered by Harry Frankfurt and Michael Bratman. It is argued that such accounts fall foul of a dilemma: the Authority Problem. The failure of attempts to avoid the Authority Problem is then used to motivate an attractive alternative style of account of the distinction, offered by Richard Moran. However, it is pressed that Moran's account rests on claims about agency which seem incompatible with the event-causal conception of agency. By making the links between the metaphysics of agency and accounts of identification and alienation more explicit, the paper allows us to better comprehend both the apparent need for and characteristic failures of some traditional accounts of identification and alienation, as well as make clear the action-theoretical debt incurred by those who would offer an alternative.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | WINNER OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL EXPLORATIONS ESSAY PRIZE 2013: The relations between agency, identification, and alienation |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/13869795.2013.815260 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13869795.2013.815260 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2013 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted. Permission is granted subject to the terms of the License under which the work was published. Please check the License conditions for the work which you wish to reuse. Full and appropriate attribution must be given. This permission does not cover any third party copyrighted material which may appear in the work requested. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Dept of Philosophy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1456765 |
Loading...
Loading...Loading...Loading...Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
