Book Review: Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility

John Fischer and Mark Ravizza’s book Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility is an attempt to develop a unified account of moral responsibility for actions, omissions and consequences that takes seriously “Frankfurt examples” and their many variations. (Roughly, a “Frankfurt-example” is one in which an agent acts voluntarily, and seems responsible for her action, despite the fact that some unactualized force waits in the wings to ensure that she so act should she begin to act differently. The book is not an unqualified success, but it is a qualified success for it both presents a theory of moral responsibility that anyone working in the field should examine – even if only to reject – and brings out the various relevant factors involved in numerous Frankfurt-style examples with impressive clarity and perspicuity