Economics and philosophy: Harry G. Frankfurt - "On Caring"

CONTENT

1.  INTRODUCTION  4

  1  1

  BACKGROUND  4

  1  2

INTENTION  AND STRUCTURE  4

2.  ABOUT THE AUTHOR  5

  2  1

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION  5

  2  2

  MOST IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS  6

3.  THE CONCEPT OF CARING  7

  3  1

  THE REASON FOR ACTIO N AND THE CONTENT OF HAPPINESS  7

  3  2

  THE DISTINCTION OF WANTING AND CARING  8

  3  3

  THE TWO WAYS OF AVOIDING FRUSTRATION  9

4.  THE MEANING OF CARING  10

  4  1

  THE NOTION OF HARM  10

  4  2

VOLITIONAL  COMMITMENT  11

  4  3

  THE NOTION OF NEED  11

5.  LOVE  12

  5  1

  LOVE AS A DISINTERESTED CONCERN  13

  5  2

  PRACTICAL RELEVANCE  13

6.  SUMMARY  14

7.  PERSONAL CRITIQUE  15

  Page 3 of  17

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND

This term paper deals with an essay by the American philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt “On Caring”. Harry Frankfurt is one of those thinkers who has the ability to provoke new and interesting discussions in philosophy, while keeping his language simple to understand even for the lay mind. This particular essay was published in 1999 in a book called “Necessity, Volition, and Love” which contained a series of essays dealing with various concepts of human needs, wishes and desires. The paper in hand follows a presentation held in the course of the seminar “Economics and Philosophy: Recent Research on Happiness and Well-Being” at the University of St. Gallen on November 19 ^th 2003. Both the presentation and this paper only concentrate on the first part of Frankfurt’s essay, called “Caring and Necessity”. The second part, called “The Necessities of Love”, will not be discussed.

1.2. INTENTION AND STRUCTURE

The goal of this treatise now is to present the essay in a more detailed manner and to provide some deeper insight into Frankfurt’s concepts by bringing in a couple of self-chosen examples of everyday life. Having this objective in mind, I will begin with a presentation of some biographical information on the author and an overview of his work. This is especially important in order to follow Frankfurt’s explorations about the ways people think about themselves intellectually and morally, and how ideals and values shape our lives. Throughout his career, Frankfurt continued to develop these concepts, and this is why it is essential to quickly look at his first works, which laid out the grounds for his thinking. The following discussion of the essay “On Caring” will then be divided into three parts: A first part will deal with the idea that caring can be understood as a principal reason for human action and therefore as a means for the pursuit of happiness, and is followed by a discussion about what

Page 4 of 17

caring in this sense actually means. Thirdly, we will shortly look at the concept of love that Frankfurt sketches in the last passage of this first part of the essay, leading to the second part , which we will not take into consideration as stated above.

2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

¹ 2.1. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Harry Gordon Frankfurt was born in the United States on May 29 ^th 1929 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. In 1949, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts and in 1954 his Ph.D., both at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. From 1954 until 1956, he served in the U.S. army before he became an assistant professor at Ohio State University. After six years, he turned to an assignment as an associate professor at State University of New York at Binghamton, before becoming a research associate at Rockefeller University (New York) in 1963. Frankfurt then also became a profes-sor there. He was a visiting fellow of All Souls College at Oxford University between 1971 and 1972, and came back to the United States to become a chairman at Rockefeller University.

In 1976, Frankfurt was offered a professorship of philosophy at Yale University, which he gladly accepted and kept until 1990, when he moved to Princeton University. From 1979 on, he was even a lecturer in law at the Yale Law School and from 1978 until 1987 the chairman of the Yale Philosophy Department.

From 1990 until recently, Frankfurt has been a professor of philosophy at Princeton, New Jersey, occupying the post of President of the American Philosophical Association from 1992 until 1993. Since 2002, he is now professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University.

¹ http://www.gavagai.de/philosoph/HHP19.htm (15.11.2003) and

http://www.law.upenn.edu/academics/institutes/ilp/200304bios/Frankfurt.pdf (15.11.2003)

Page 5 of 17

The major emphasis of his work at Princeton lay in moral philosophy, philosophy of mind and action, 17 ^th century realism and - more oftenethical theory and applied ethics. His current work now centers on exploring the relevance of love, non-moral goals and standards to issues concerning practical reason, and on the distinction between being active and being passive. ² Frankfurt has written more than 50 scholarly articles, essays and reviews, as well as four books.

2.2. MOST IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS

Frankfurt had two major publications in the Journal of Philosophy. The first one was published in December 1969 and was called “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility”. In this article Frankfurt challenged the Principle of Possible Alternatives, which traditionally states that a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise. 3

The other article appeared in 1971 with the title “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person”. Here, Frankfurt develops the idea that what distinguishes a person from other beings (animals) is the specific structure of a person’s will. Only these notions of desires and volition enable a person to enjoy (and lack!) freedom of will and responsibilities of actions as well.

Both these essays appeared again in Frankfurt’s book “The Importance of What We Care About” in 1988, making up the first two chapters of the book. This volume is a collection of thirteen essays on ethics, free will, and the philosophy of mind. Next to freedom of the will, moral responsibility, the concept of a person and the structure of the will, the essays deal with such central topics as the nature of action, the constitution of the self, and the theory of personal ideals. “By focusing on the distinctive nature of human free-dom, Professor Frankfurt is ale to explore fundamental

² http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/00/q1/0228-frankfurt.htm (08.02.2004)

³ http://www.jamesagibson.com/notes/freewill/frankfurt_PAP_and_MR.htm (08.02.2004)

Page 6 of 17