ABSTRACT
Human agency is the power to act on, and exercise control over, objects in the world. The kind of moral responsibility in question is basic “in the sense that the agent, to be morally responsible, would deserve the blame or credit just by virtue of having performed the action.” The ordinary concept of free will centers on the notion of conscious choice. If the possession of a conscious choice is to bestow significant control on an agent, the agent must possess a range of related cognitive abilities. Reflectivism states that ordinary human decision-making requires accurate, self-conscious reflection, which in turn requires accurate access to the beliefs, desires, and other attitudes which are relevant to the choice at hand. One of the most famous priming studies was performed by John Bargh and colleagues and is known as the “Florida Effect.” Retributivism requires something approaching the ordinary notion of free will.
