Review Of Chisholm's Essay 'Moral Responsibility'

235 Words1 Pages
In relation to moral responsibility, Chisholm agrees that an individual can only be held responsible for his or her actions if they posses genuine free will. In his essay, Chisholm uses an example of a man shooting someone. He explains at the moment at which the man fired the gun, he could have also refrained from firing it, showing that he could have performed another action instead. Chisholm places the power on the agent desires and beliefs rather than the events that preceded the action. Next, Chisholm uses the same situation yet claims the man was under hypnosis and could not be consciously responsible for his actions. However, if the man is responsible in the situation where his desires and beliefs are present then he is also responsible