This is the web page for course 24.120 Moral Psychology given by Richard Holton at MIT, Fall Semester 2009. The class will take place on Monday and Wednesday, 11.00 - 12.30, in 56.162.


Richard Holton's office hours are by appointment. Email him: holton@mit.edu

The TA for this course is Kate Manne. Email: kamanne@mit.edu Kate's office hours are by appointment on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

This is a CI-M course. To fulfill the CI requirements, part of each Wednesday class will consist of student presentations on preassigned texts [Groups].


Assessment will be by means of three short papers (5-7 pages) and the class presentation (25% each). At least one paper (normally the first) will be revised and resubmitted.



Week One: Egoism


    Wednesday September 16 [Handout 2]

      E. Fehr & U. Fischbacher 'The Nature of Human Altruism' Nature 425 (2003) 785-91 [On-line]



Week Two: Beliefs, Desires, Intentions

    Monday September 21 [Handout 3]

      M. Smith 'The Humean Theory of Motivation' Mind (1987) JSTOR


    Wednesday September 23 [Handout 4]

      M. Bratman, 'Taking Plans Seriously'

      Holton, Chapter One of Willing, Wanting, Waiting; includes short presentation of the Bratman approach, and a summary of the empirical work from Gollwitzer.

      Further Readings

        Bratman, 'Intention and Means-Ends Reasoning' Philosophical Review (1981) JSTOR; 'Two Faces of Intention' Philosophical Review (1984) JSTOR

        Bratman's position is developed more fully in his Intention, Plans and Practical Reason (Harvard University Press, 1987). (For a quick way into this, see the review by David Velleman in the Philosophical Review 1991, JSTOR)

        For an alternative view that tries to accommodate intentions within a belief/desire framework see Michael Ridge 'Humean Intentions' American Philosophical Quarterly 1998

        For Velleman's views on reduction see [Handout 5], David Velleman, Chapter Four of Practical Reflection (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), and Rae Langton Intention as Faith in Action and Agency, ed. Helen Steward (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003)


Week Three: Akrasia, Weakness of Will





Week Four: Strength of Will


Week Five: Addiction



    Wednesday October 14th[Handout 12]
      Robinson, T.E. & Berridge, K.C. Addiction. Annual Review of Psychology, v. 54, pp. 25-53, 2003

      Berridge and Robinson 'The Mind of an Addicted Brain' Current Directions in Psychological Science 4/3 (1995)

      G. Watson, 'Disordered Appetites' in his Agency and Answerability (NB this pdf isn't blank as it first appears: rotate 90 anticlockwise)

      -- 'Excusing Addiction' Law and Philosophy 18, 1999 pp. 589-619.

Week Six: Free Will I





Week Seven: Free Will II



Week of 2nd Nov: No class on 2nd Nov; but we will be meeting on 4th November. We'll be lookinga t the second Frankfurt piece (i.e. that marked for 21 October)



Week Eight: Identification and Autonomy



Week Nine: Identification and Self-Deception

    Wednesday November 18th [Handout 21]
      A. Mele, 'Real Self-Deception', Behavioural and Brain Sciences 20, 1997 pp. 91-136. Electronic Version (Note: this is a pre-print, and doesn't include the peer commentary that appeared with the printed version).

      R. Holton, 'What is the role of the self in self-deception?' Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 2000/1. Acrobat version


Week Ten: Moral Psychology I



    Wednesday November 25th
Week Eleven: Moral Psychology II



    Wednesday December 2nd
Week Twelve: Moral Psychology III



Last updated Feb 2 2009