ascriptivism the theory that to call an action voluntary is not to describe it as caused in a certain way by the agent who did it, but to express a commitment to hold the agent responsible for the action. Ascriptivism is thus a kind of noncognitivism as applied to judgments about the voluntariness of acts. Introduced by Hart in ‘Ascription of Rights and Responsibilities,’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (1949), ascriptivism was given its name and attacked in Geach’s ‘Ascriptivism,’ Philosophical Review (1960). Hart recanted in the Preface to his Punishment and Responsibility (1968). See also DESCRIPTIVIS. B.W.H.