The concept of free will and who we truly are as people is a subject that should be of the utmost importance when questioned from a philosophical standpoint. This is a notion questioned by the philosopher Harry Frankfurt and he questions this through out his paper on the "Freedom of the Will and the Concept of the Person " to begin, the basic concepts of this will be laid out and the process will be placed under scrutiny as we follow the through Frankfurt theories. .
Frankfurt begins by explaining that the concept of a "person"" has been missed and through this to be the true ability to understand a person has not been examined, as it should. He takes note of the notions set by Strawson and Ayer and how their concept of a "person"" is not just a body/mind union, as this mind/body union can also be applied to greater functioning animals who are not persons, meaning that the way of identifying persons has been an error or a misuse of the concept of a "person"." Frankfurt takes stand that there is not a problem of greater importance to the philosopher then distinguishing what we truly are as people. He states that not all persons are human, but the characteristics of personhood are uniquely human. Frankfurt discusses different level desires to determine the separation between the two, humans and non-humans, using these desires to separate them. .
To start we will begin by discussing these desires and their characteristics, Frankfurt uses two notions on free will, the freedom of action and the freedom of will. First we need to discuss desires, first order desires, the desire to do this or that. As expressed within a statement it would be shown as the follows. "A" wants to "X" (this is where an "A" is our person or wanton with "X" presenting our want). There are two types of first order desires, the effective and non effective, and effective 1st order desire is where the desire itself is motivated, or will motivate an agent to act.