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The Inner Work of Liberty: Cudworth on Desire and Attention

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

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Authors

Abstract

Ralph Cudworth’s goal in his manuscript writings on freewill is to argue that our actions are in our own power in a robust sense that entails the power to do otherwise. Cudworth’s unorthodox views about desire threaten to undermine this project, however. Cudworth maintains that only desire is able to distinguish good and evil and, consequently, that desire alone motivates our actions. Therefore, since Cudworth holds that desire itself is not in our own power, he appears committed to the conclusion that our actions are not in our own power either. Cudworth’s solution, I argue, is to emphasize our inward responses to desire, which he does take to be in our own power. I focus in particular on attention: by directing attention differently in response to desire, Cudworth holds that we are able actively to influence the way in which desire motivates our actions. Our actions are in our own power, therefore, only because such inward responses to desire are in our own power.

Description

Keywords

5003 Philosophy, 50 Philosophy and Religious Studies, 5002 History and Philosophy Of Specific Fields

Journal Title

International Journal of Philosophical Studies

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0967-2559
1466-4542

Volume Title

27

Publisher

Informa UK Limited

Rights

All rights reserved