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Frankfurt cases

Frankfurt cases (also known as Frankfurt counterexamples or Frankfurt-style cases) were presented by philosopher Harry Frankfurt in 1969 as counterexamples to the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP), which holds that an agent is morally responsible for an action only if that person could have done otherwise.

Version
v1 · 2026-09-28 · History
Domain-specific #
9559
Domain group
Humanities
Origin domain
Philosophy
Subdomains
Free Will, Moral Responsibility → Philosophy

Core Idea

Frankfurt cases is treated here as the recurring socialscienceshumanitiesarts identity summarized by this source-grounded definition: Frankfurt cases (also known as Frankfurt counterexamples or Frankfurt-style cases) were presented by philosopher Harry Frankfurt in 1969 as counterexamples to the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP), which holds that an agent is morally responsible for an action only if that person could have done otherwise. Frankfurt cases (also known as Frankfurt counterexamples or Frankfurt-style cases) were presented by philosopher Harry Frankfurt in 1969 as counterexamples to the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP), which holds that an agent is morally.

Scope of Application

  • Principle of alternate possibilities. The principle of alternate possibilities (PAP) forms part of an influential argument for the incompatibility of responsibility and causal determinism, often called the core argument for incompatibilism.

  • Principle of alternate possibilities. PAP: An agent is responsible for an action only if said agent could have done otherwise.

  • Principle of alternate possibilities. An agent could have done otherwise only if causal determinism is false.

  • Principle of alternate possibilities. Therefore, an agent is responsible for an action only if causal determinism is false.

  • Principle of alternate possibilities. Traditionally, compatibilists (defenders of the compatibility of free will and causal determinism, like A.

Clarity

A clear use of Frankfurt cases names the carrier, the operative relation, and the conditions under which the source treats the identity as present. The minimal definition is Frankfurt cases (also known as Frankfurt counterexamples or Frankfurt-style cases) were presented by philosopher Harry Frankfurt in 1969 as counterexamples to the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP), which holds that an agent is morally responsible for an action only if that person.

Manages Complexity

Frankfurt cases compresses multiple socialscienceshumanitiesarts details into a stable diagnostic relation. The source shows both the central mechanism—anyone with a theory concerning what "could have done otherwise" means may answer this question for [themselves] by describing whatever measures [they] would regard as sufficient to guarantee that, in the relevant sense, Jones cannot do otherwise.—and the practical consequence—this is because they are operating from the get-go that moral.

Abstract Reasoning

  1. Type the carrier. Identify the socialscienceshumanitiesarts entities to which the claim applies.
  2. State the relation. Use the source-grounded identity: Frankfurt cases (also known as Frankfurt counterexamples or Frankfurt-style cases) were presented by philosopher Harry Frankfurt in 1969 as counterexamples to the principle of alternate possibilities (PAP), which holds that an agent is morally responsible for an action only if that person could have done otherwise.
  3. Check operation and conditions.

Knowledge Transfer

Within the home domain. Knowledge about Frankfurt cases transfers literally when a new case preserves the same carrier type, relation, and recognition test. The principle of alternate possibilities (PAP) forms part of an influential argument for the incompatibility of responsibility and causal determinism, often called the core argument for incompatibilism. PAP: An agent is responsible for an action only if said agent could have done otherwise. Beyond the home domain. No canonical parent is asserted for Frankfurt cases.

Relationships to Other Abstractions

Local relationship map for Frankfurt casesParents appear above the current abstraction, mutual partners to the right, and children below. Node labels state whether each abstraction is prime or domain-specific; colors identify relation types.Frankfurt casesDOMAINPrime abstraction: Thought Experiment — is a kind ofThoughtExperimentPRIME

Current abstraction Frankfurt cases Domain-specific

Parents (1) — more general patterns this builds on

  • Frankfurt cases is a kind of Thought Experiment Prime

    Frankfurt cases are thought-experiment counterexamples testing whether moral responsibility requires alternative possibilities.

Hierarchy paths (2) — routes to 2 parentless roots

Neighborhood in Abstraction Space

Frankfurt cases sits in a sparse region of the domain-specific corpus (62nd percentile for distinctiveness): few abstractions share its structure, so a faithful description tends to retrieve it precisely.

Family — Legal & Moral Philosophy Principles (16 abstractions)

Nearest neighbors

Computed from structural-signature embeddings · 2026-10-08