ABSTRACT
A person may do something in circumstances that leave him no alternative to doing it, without these circumstances actually moving him or leading him to do it - without them playing any role, indeed, in bringing it about that he does what he does. An examination of situations characterized by circumstances of this sort casts doubt on the relevance to questions of moral responsibility of the fact that a person who has done something could not have done otherwise. One possibility is that Jones is not a reasonable man; he is, rather, a man who does what he has once decided to do no matter what happens next and no matter what the cost. In that case, the threat actually exerted no effective force upon him. The case of Jones may appear at first glance to combine coercion and moral responsibility, and thus to provide a counterexample to the doctrine that coercion excuses.
