Daniel DennettVerified account

Why do we need 'free will', as a concept, to make sense of promise keeping?

Dan, I see no reason why promise keeping requires free will and desert-based moral responsibility. There are other conceptions of responsibility that are consistent with the denial of free will and basic desert, and these seem sufficient for what you want. [1/?]

E.g. One could appeal to Bruce Waller's "take charge" responsibility, "answerability," etc. What I'm still missing is why you think backward-looking blame and desert are required. [2/?]

If all you want to preserve is the "self-control required to make promises," why not call it something else? Why think a "system of desert" is required? [3/?]

Sometimes you sound like a free will skeptic in all but name--i.e., when you stress forward-looking blame, self-control, and degrees of autonomy (all of which a skeptic could accept). It's when you insist on desert and something resembling retributivism that we part way ;) [4/4]

We have no control over thoughts that arise which lead to actions we take. We have no control over the thoughts and actions that respond to others doing the same. This has resulted in the world we have including promises made and uncontrolled feelings of responsibility.