b. 1952
Susan Wolf is a contemporary American philosopher known for her work on moral responsibility, free will, and the philosophy of meaning in life. She is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has made significant contributions to debates about what it means to be a responsible agent and what makes a life meaningful.
Developed the 'Reason View' of free will, arguing that freedom requires the ability to act in accordance with reason
Authored 'Meaning in Life and Why It Matters', a landmark work on what makes life meaningful
Argued that moral responsibility requires both the freedom to act well and the ability to recognize moral reasons
Challenged purely compatibilist and libertarian accounts of free will with a nuanced 'asymmetry thesis'
Contributed to debates on moral psychology connecting free will, ethics, and practical reason