Freedom, with or beyond moral responsibility?: The Frankfurt challenge

Abstract

One of the most recurrent debates facing epistemology today is that of the possibility of imputing moral responsibility within a deterministic context that denies freedom of will (free will). In contemporary analytical philosophy, this challenge has been met with relative success by the theoretical approach of Harry Frankfurt. In this article, this perspective will be revisited in contrast to the positions that both Aristotle and late Stoicism hold in relation to the question of freedom of will and consequent moral responsibility. An intersection with this will allow us to build an updated critique of the hierarchy of desires that Frankfurt offers to resolve the dilemma of freedom, with or beyond, responsibility and the moral problems to which it gives rise.