Harry Frankfurt facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Harry Frankfurt
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Frankfurt at the American Council of Learned Societies 2017 annual meeting
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| Born | May 29, 1929 Langhorne, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Died | July 16, 2023 (aged 94) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Johns Hopkins University (BA, PhD) |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Analytic |
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Main interests
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Moral philosophy, philosophy of mind, free will, love, philosophy of action |
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Notable ideas
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Higher-order volition, Frankfurt cases |
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Influences
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Influenced
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Harry Gordon Frankfurt (born May 29, 1929 – died July 16, 2023) was an American philosopher. He was a professor at Princeton University from 1990 to 2002. He also taught at other well-known universities like Yale University.
Frankfurt made important contributions to areas like ethics (the study of right and wrong) and the philosophy of mind (the study of how our minds work). A key idea in his work was "caring." He believed that what we care about shows who we are.
He also had ideas about what makes someone a "person." According to Frankfurt, a person is someone who cares about what desires they have. He compared this to "wantons," who have desires but don't care which ones they act on. In ethics, Frankfurt created famous examples called "Frankfurt cases." These examples challenged the idea that you can only be responsible for something if you could have done otherwise.
Contents
About Harry Frankfurt
His Early Life
Harry Frankfurt was born on May 29, 1929, in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. He was adopted as a baby by a Jewish family. His adoptive parents were Bertha Frankfurt, a piano teacher, and Nathan Frankfurt, a bookkeeper.
He grew up in Brooklyn and Baltimore. Harry went to Johns Hopkins University, where he studied philosophy. He earned his first degree in 1949 and his Ph.D. (a higher degree) in 1954.
His Teaching Career
Harry Frankfurt became a well-known professor of philosophy. He taught at several universities during his career.
He taught at Ohio State University from 1956 to 1962. Later, he taught at Rockefeller University and Yale University. From 1990 until 2002, he was a professor at Princeton University.
His main interests included moral philosophy, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of action. He also studied 17th-century rationalism, a way of thinking that emphasizes reason.
Frankfurt's Philosophy
What is Caring?
Frankfurt believed that philosophy often asks two main questions. One is about what we should believe (called epistemology). The other is about how we should act (called ethics). But he thought there was another important question: what should we care about?
He said that when you care about something, you see it as important to you. This attitude shows what kind of person you are. It also affects how you live your life and what you choose to do.
Some people think that something is important first, and then we decide to care about it. But Frankfurt had a different idea. He argued that caring about something actually makes it important to you. For example, if you start caring about a hobby, that hobby becomes important in your life. He explained that caring creates a "need" for that thing. Because of this need, the thing you care about can affect your well-being.
What Makes a Person?
Philosophers often discuss what makes someone a "person." They talk about things like reason, being responsible for your actions, and knowing yourself. Harry Frankfurt offered a famous idea about this.
In his essay "Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person," he said that persons are beings with "second-order volitions." Let's break that down:
- A desire is something you want, like wanting to eat a cake.
- A volition is a desire you actually decide to act on. For example, you might want to eat a cake, but you also want to eat a healthy salad. If you choose the salad, eating the salad is your volition.
- First-order desires are regular desires about the world around you, like wanting a new car.
- Second-order desires are desires about your own desires. For example, you might want to want to eat healthy food.
A second-order desire becomes a second-order volition if you are determined to make that desire happen. Frankfurt thought that having second-order volitions is what makes someone a person. This is because people with second-order volitions don't just have desires; they also care about which desires they have. This means they are committed to their own desires.
Frankfurt also talked about "wantons." These are beings that have desires and act on them, but they don't care about their own will. They don't care which of their desires become actions. He believed that humans are usually persons, but other animals are wantons. He also said that even some humans might act like wantons at times.
Moral Responsibility and Choices
Moral responsibility means being worthy of blame or praise for what you do. A common idea is the "principle of alternative possibilities." This principle says that you are only morally responsible for something if you could have done otherwise. For example, if you steal a lunch, you are responsible because you could have chosen not to. But if a medical condition forced you to do it, you might not be responsible.
Frankfurt disagreed with this principle. He created examples called "Frankfurt cases" to show why. Imagine a situation where a person, Allison, decides to walk her dog. What she doesn't know is that her father put a special chip in her head. This chip would force her to walk the dog if she didn't decide to do it herself. But Allison freely chooses to walk the dog, so the chip is never used.
Frankfurt argued that Allison is still morally responsible for walking her dog. This is true even though she couldn't have done otherwise (because of the chip). The main point is that she acted because she wanted to. Even if there was no other choice, she still chose to do it. This idea suggests that free will and moral responsibility might exist even if everything is already determined.
Personal Life
Harry Frankfurt was married twice. He had two daughters with his first wife, Marilyn Rothman. Later, he married Joan Gilbert.
He loved playing the classical piano. He started lessons when he was young. His mother hoped he would become a concert pianist. Even while being a philosopher, he kept playing the piano throughout his life.
Harry Frankfurt passed away on July 16, 2023, in Santa Monica, California. He was 94 years old.
See also
In Spanish: Harry G. Frankfurt para niños
- American philosophy
- List of American philosophers
