Will as Commitment and Resolve: An Existential Account of Creativity, Love, Virtue, and Happiness by John Davenport

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Synopsis

In contemporary philosophy, the will is often regarded as a sheer philosophical fiction. By contrast, this book argues not only that the will is the central power of human agency that makes decisions and forms intentions, but also that it includes the capacity to generate new motivation different in structure from prepurposive desires. We see this power to project new ends at work in moral motivation, in sustaining friendships and engagement in practices, and in radically evil states of character. In a detailed critique of Platonic and Aristotelian theories of human motivation, Davenport argues that happiness is primarily a by-product of activities and pursuits aimed at other agent-transcending goods for their own sake. Because it confronts the core issues in contemporary philosophy-intentionality, agency, free will, mind, and ethics, to name a few-this ambitious study will be a valuable resource for philosophers at work in many fields.

Biography

JOHN J. DAVENPORT is Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Philosophy at Fordham University. He coedited, with Anthony Rudd, Kierkegaard after MacIntyre: Essays in Freedom, Narrative, and Virtue.