Manipulated Agents: A Window to Moral Responsibility

What bearing do our histories--our influences, what we have done and what has happened to us--have on our responsibility for the actions we take or consider in the present? This is the question at the center of Alfred R. Mele's examination of moral responsibility, including the moral responsibility of manipulated agents. Departing from other scholars writing on free will and moral responsibility, Mele reflects on a wide range of thought experiments that feature agents who have been manipulated or designed in ways which directly affect their actions. Although such thought experiments are often used by philosophers to illustrate significant features of moral responsibility, little attention has been paid to ways in which various details make a difference. In Manipulated Agents, Mele addresses this gap, arguing that such vignettes have the potential to unlock an understanding of moral responsibility that takes an agent's history into account when assigning moral praise or blame. In his analysis of these thought experiments, Mele presents a highly accessible, compelling defense of a "history-sensitive" conception of moral responsibility that has implications for free will.

Table of Contents:
Preface Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Internalism and Externalism Chapter 3. Instant Agents, Minutelings, and Radical Reversals Chapter 4. Must Compatibilists Be Internalists? Chapter 5. Bullet Biting and Beyond Chapter 6. Wrapping Things Up Appendix: Experimental Philosophy References Index

About the Author :
Alfred R. Mele is the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He is the author of ten previous OUP books and over 200 articles and an editor of six OUP books. He is past director of two multi-million dollar, interdisciplinary projects: the Big Questions in Free Will project (2010-13) and the Philosophy and Science of Self-Control project (2014-17).

Review :
"This is a rigorous and insightful book by one of the leading contributors to the lively current debates about agency, free will, and moral responsibility. I admire the crystal clarity and precision of Mele's thinking and writing. He is relentless in seeking the truth, and avoiding obscurity or the easy way out. Mele's work, and this book in particular, is a model of analytic philosophy addressing big, important philosophical (and existential) issues." -- John Martin Fischer, University of California, Criminal Law and Philosophy "I hope I have made clear what an admirable and important book Manipulated Agents is. There is no more thoughtful or thorough exploration of the grounds for an historical theory of moral responsibility, one that helps us better understand the prospects for a defensible version of compatibilism. The book moreover, showcases the power of the clear-minded use of thought experiments to make philosophical progress." -- Michael McKenna, University of Arizona, Criminal Law and Philosophy "...this book is a must-read for philosophers working on moral responsibility. And for those who are interested in but unfamiliar with Mele's work on manipulation, this book will simultaneously introduce Mele's previous work and bring readers up to speed on the current state of the debate." -- Taylor W. Cyr, The Philosophical Quarterly "All of Alfred Mele's philosophical virtues are on display in this book. It is packed with creative examples, rigorous argumentation, detailed engagement with alternative views, and that rarely-sighted thing: a plausible philosophical view that still teaches us something. Manipulated Agents is a state-of-the-art account of history-sensitive compatibilism and how it can address the many puzzles surrounding manipulation." --Manuel Vargas, Professor of Phi losophy, University of California at San Diego "In his engaging, luminous, and meticulous fashion, Mele draws on radical reversal manipulation cases, featuring extreme changes in a person's values, to defend an externalist constraint on moral responsibility. Characteristically, Mele displays intellectual integrity, keen metaphysical insight, and categorical commitment to getting it right." --Ishtiyaque Haji, Professor of Philosophy, University of Calgary Alfred Mele's Manipulated Agents is devoted solely to understanding what can be learned about moral responsibility by attending to cases of manipulated agents who, by various means, are manipulated into acquiring beliefs, desires, intentions, values, or principles. This brief, carefully-argued book is a joy to read. It will be easily accessible to those not steeped in the literature on free will and moral responsibility, but it will also pay off handsomely for those who have been working on these topics for years. While carefully examining a range of positions one might take, Mele himself defends a version of a historical theory according to which a person is a morally responsible agent only if her history does not include certain objectionable forms of manipulation." --Michael McKenna, Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona