Abstract:
Here I give the basic motivation for an "actual-sequence" theory of moral responsibility, according to which an agent can be morally responsible even though he or she never had freedom to do otherwise. Moral responsibility is a matter of how we walk down the path of life, not whether we have various paths open to us.
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Professor Fischer's main research interests lie in free will, moral responsibility, and both metaphysical and ethical issues pertaining to life and death. He is the author of The Metaphysics of Free Will: An Essay on Control; with Mark Ravizza, Responsibility and Control: A Theory of Moral Responsibility; and My Way: Essays on Moral Responsibility. His recent work includes a contribution to Four Views on Free Will (in Blackwell’s Great Debates in Philosophy series) and three collections of essays all published by Oxford University Press: My Way: Essays on Moral Responsibility; Our Stories: Essays on Life, Death, and Free Will; and Deep Control: Essays on Free Will and Value. His undergraduate teaching includes an introductory ethics course, philosophy of law, theories of distributive justice, and philosophy of religion. He has also taught various courses on death and the meaning of life. His graduate teaching has primarily focused on free will, moral responsibility, and the metaphysics of death (and the meaning of life). Fischer is currently (as of July 1, 2012) serving as President of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division and also Project Leader for The Immortality Project, a major grant supported by the John Templeton Foundation.