‘Aristotle’s View’ and Freedom

Abstract

A position sometimes adopted in discussions of freedom is one dubbed and, I believe, espoused by J. L. Austin — he referred to it as ‘Aristotle’s view’.¹ Briefly this is the position that questions of whether a person is responsible for this or that action are prior to questions of freedom. Thus, to discover whether someone acted freely or responsibly — these two predicates are not always clearly distinguished — we must discover whether this, that or the other plea will pass. These pleas are usually considered under the legal heads of duress, provocation, accident, mistake and insanity. Because this position appeals to the notion of defeasibility² it is sometimes referred to in connection with that term.