Attachments and the moral psychology of internal conflicts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4454/philinq.v5i1.176Keywords:
internal conflicts, ambivalence, moral psychology, Harry Frankfurt, identification, attachments.Abstract
What does it mean for an individual to be conflicted about something or to undergo an internal conflict? What is it exactly that comes into conflict? In what sense, if at all, is the self involved in these conflicts? The bulk of this paper aims to answer these questions. As we go along doing this, a specific view of internal conflicts will emerge. On this view, being conflicted is something that can be understood only by reference to the so-called attachments of the conflicted individual. This view is then contrasted with Harry Frankfurt’s (1988c) view of internal conflicts. Finally, we will move from the characterization of this phenomenon to a short discussion of its ethics. Why or how do internal conflicts matter? Should they always be solved?
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work five (5) years after publication licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
After five years from first publication, Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
