-
143The Significance of Free Will by Robert KaneThe Significance of Free Will (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 60 (1): 141. 2000.
-
141The Zygote Argument remixedAnalysis 71 (2): 267-272. 2011.John and Mary have fully consensual sex, but they do not want to have a child, so they use contraception with the intention of avoiding pregnancy. Unfortunately, although they used the contraception in the way in which it is supposed to be used, Mary has become pregnant. The couple decides to have the baby, whom they name ‘Ernie’. Now we fill in the story a bit. The universe is causally deterministic, and 30 years later Ernie performs some action A and thereby brings about event E. We also stipu…Read more
-
139Foreknowledge, Freedom, and the Fixity of the PastPhilosophia 39 (3): 461-474. 2011.I seek to clarify the notion of the fixity of the past appropriate to Pike’s regimentation of the argument for the incompatibility of God’s foreknowledge and human freedom. Also, I discuss Alvin Plantinga’s famous example of Paul and the Ant Colony in light of Pike’s argument
-
136My compatibilismIn Paul Russell & Oisin Deery (eds.), The Philosophy of Free Will: Essential Readings From the Contemporary Debates, Oup Usa. 2013.
-
134The logic of theological incompatibilism: a reply to WestphalAnalysis 73 (1): 46-48. 2013.In our paper, "Omniscience, Freedom, and Dependence" (Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 88: 346-367), we argued that recent attempts (by Merricks, McCall, and Westphal) to resolve the dilemma of freedom and foreknowledge fail because they are question-begging. Westphal replied to our paper in an earlier issue of Analysis, and this article is our rejoinder to his reply.
-
131Ultimacy and alternative possibilitiesPhilosophical Studies 144 (1): 15-20. 2009.I explore a key feature of Robert Kane’s libertarianism. Kane claims that we should separate issues of alternative possibilities from issues of ultimacy, but he further argues that they are connected in a certain way. I call into question this connection, and I continue to argue for a strict separation of considerations pertaining to alternative possibilities and “actual-sequence” considerations
-
120Blame and Avoidability: A Reply to OtsukaThe Journal of Ethics 14 (1). 2010.In a fascinating recent article, Michael Otsuka seeks to bypass the debates about the Principle of Alternative Possibilities by presenting and defending a different, but related, principle, which he calls the “Principle of Avoidable Blame.” According to this principle, one is blameworthy for performing an act only if one could instead have behaved in an entirely blameless manner. Otsuka claims that although Frankfurt-cases do undermine the Principle of Alternative Possibilities, they do not unde…Read more
-
116My Way and Life’s Highway: Replies to Steward, Smilansky, and Perry (review)The Journal of Ethics 12 (2). 2008.I seek to reply to the thoughtful and challenging papers by Helen Steward, Saul Smilansky, and John Perry. Steward argues that agency itself requires access to alternative possibilities; I attempt to motivate my denial of this view. I believe that her view here is no more plausible than the view that it is unfair to hold someone morally responsible, unless he has genuine access to alternative possibilities. Smilansky contends that compatibilism is morally shallow, and that we can see this from t…Read more
-
114Death and the psychological conception of personal identityMidwest Studies in Philosophy 24 (1). 2000.
-
113Precis of my way: Essays on moral responsibility (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 80 (1): 229-241. 2009.
-
104The Free will RevolutionThe Journal of Ethics 10 (3): 315-345. 2006.I seek to reply to the thoughtful and penetrating comments by William Rowe, Alfred Mele, Carl Ginet, and Ishtiyaque Haji. In the process, I hope that my overall approach to free will and moral responsibility is thrown into clearer relief. I make some suggestions as to future directions of research in these areas.
-
102Excerpts from John Martin Fischer's Discussion with Members of the AudienceThe Journal of Ethics 4 (4). 2000.
-
102How Do Manipulation Arguments Work?The Journal of Ethics 20 (1-3): 47-67. 2016.Alfred Mele has presented the Zygote Argument as a challenge to compatibilism. In previous work I have offered a critique of Mele’s first premise. Patrick Todd, Neal Tognazzini, and Derk Pereboom have offered an alternative interpretation of the argument, substituting for. Here I offer a critical evaluation of this strategy, and in the process I seek to understand the deep structure of the Zygote Argument.
-
98Near-Death Experiences: To the Edge of the UniverseJournal of Consciousness Studies 27 (11-12): 166-191. 2020.Most discussions of near-death experiences (NDEs) in both the academic and popular literature contend that they establish ('prove') supernaturalism (about NDEs): they show that the mind is not the brain (and can continue after the brain stops functioning), and they bring us into contact with non-physical realms. I believe that the evidence provided by NDEs for supernaturalism is not persuasive, but I offer an alternative, naturalistic interpretation of these phenomena. On this interpretation, ND…Read more
-
98Being born earlierAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 76 (1). 1998.This Article does not have an abstract
-
97This article is my contribution to an author-meets-critics session on Daniel Dennett’s Freedom Evolves (Viking, 2003) at the 2004 meetings of the American Philosophical Association – Pacific Division. Dennett criticizes a view I defend in Autonomous Agents (Oxford University Press, 1995) about the importance of agents’ histories for autonomy, freedom, and moral responsibility and defends a competing view. Our disagreement on this issue is the major focus of this article. Additional topics are ma…Read more
-
96Death, Immortality, and Meaning in Life: Precis and Further ReflectionsThe Journal of Ethics 26 (3): 341-359. 2022.I offer an overview of the book, _Death, Immortality, and Meaning in Life_, summarizing the main issues, arguments, and conclusions (Fischer 2020). I also present some new ideas and further developments of the material in the book. A big part of this essay is drawing connections between the specific issues treated in the book and those in other areas of philosophy, and in particular, the theory of agency and moral responsibility. I highlight some striking similarities of both structure and conte…Read more
-
94The Truth about ForeknowledgeFaith and Philosophy 30 (3): 286-301. 2013.In this paper we critically evaluate Trenton Merricks’s recent attempt to provide a “new” way of defending compatibilism about divine foreknowledge and human freedom. We take issue with Merricks’s claim that his approach is fundamentally different from Ockhamism. We also seek to highlight the implausibility of Merricks’s rejection of the assumption of the fixity of the past, and we also develop a critique of the Merricks’s crucial notion of “dependence.”
-
91Replies to critics (review)Philosophical Studies 158 (3): 529-540. 2012.Replies to critics Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s11098-010-9669-y Authors John Martin Fischer, University of California, Riverside, CA USA Journal Philosophical Studies Online ISSN 1573-0883 Print ISSN 0031-8116.
-
89Responsibility, Freedom, and Reason:Freedom Within Reason. Susan WolfEthics 102 (2): 368-. 1992.
-
86Reply: The free will revolutionPhilosophical Explorations 8 (2). 2005.This Article does not have an abstract
-
85Deep Control: A Theory of Moral ResponsibilityOup Usa. 2012.Fischer here defends the contention that moral responsibility is associated with "deep control", which is "in-between" two untenable extreme positions: "superficial control" and "total control". He defends this "middle way" against the proponents of more--and less--robust notions of the freedom required for moral responsibility. Fischer offers a new solution to the Luck Problem, as well as providing a defense of the compatibility of causal determinism and moral responsibility.
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Value Theory |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Value Theory |