Determinism and Obligation

Abstract

Chapter 2 addresses the deterministic horn. Whether determinism threatens obligation turns partly but pivotally on whether the alternatives obligation requires are of the sort that one can have even if determinism is true (weak alternatives) or of the sort determinism precludes one from having (strong alternatives). A line of reasoning for the view that obligation presupposes only that that agents have weak alternatives is evaluated. The chapter concludes with the argument that even if a teleological account of reasons explanation, according to which actions are to be explained in terms of the goals of agents and not in terms of whether they are caused by appropriate mental items (or their neural realizers), is true, determinism still threatens obligation if obligation requires strong alternatives.