ABSTRACT
No man can be accountable for anything he does unless what he does is free, and no man's action is free unless he could have done otherwise. The force of any philosophic paradox, as Hume once observed, can be dissipated through inattention alone, no less than by the persuasive techniques of counter-arguments. But unless attention is paid to the crucial notions employed in a philosophical argument and some measure of success attained in the effort to gain an understanding of them, these disturbing puzzles and paradoxes must return upon us with undiminished force whenever we reflect upon the considerations that prompt them. And philosophy is nothing if it is not inquiry and reflection; and it is unsuccessful if it does not provide us with that understanding of crucial concepts which alone can function as a relevant and effective countermeasure.
