ABSTRACT
Some philosophers, such as Derk Pereboom and Bruce Waller think that we can preserve a robust sense of moral obligation even if it is believed that we lack the kind of free will which grounds just deserts. Indeed, Waller goes so far as to argue that to deny this on the grounds that “ought” implies “can” weakens our moral system. This chapter focuses on Waller’s discussion of the issues, and it is argued that (a) the concept of moral obligation is weakened significantly when we say that human beings lack the free will which grounds just deserts and (b) there are important conceptual links between “ought” and the ability to do otherwise which can only be made sense of on the libertarian model.
