Determinism has no bearing on moral responsibility.
Determinism is linked to moral responsibility by some people in a sense that if determinism is true then we don't have free will, and if we don't have free will then how can we hold someone responsible for what he does?
To begin with, I will declare my position on both determinism and free will. I do believe determinism is true. As for free will, I think determinism doesn't necessarily preclude free will. However, the answer to the question of free will isn't so simple in that it depends on the level from where we are looking at life. (Read my case for free will for detailed account of my view.) If we look at life from the point outside of (or prior to) our consciousness then we are but passive atoms and molecules in motion subject to the laws of physics, and hence we can't be said to have free will. But I believe that since we exist (as an autonomous ego-entity, with the ability to see itself as distinct from the universe) only in post-consciousness realm, this question is only relevant after the point where we came to exist, because it's about "us" having or not having the will. We exist only through our consciousness, and therein we do have free will. (That's why I can even think about it now!) Saying that free will is an illusion would be to say that we (the "autonomous" beings) too are illusions; and if everything is illusion then we must accept that that's the only way things are, and that automatically renders everything real. Therefore, I lean towards the position that we do have free will.
[Comments on my stance on free will must go to this post and not on the current one, as the main topic here is different.]
Are you thinking that this is the argument I am going to use for unlinking determinism from moral responsibility? Well, No! Rather, I am going to concede for this post that we don't have free will. And still I have a case for moral responsibility! Not that I am afraid that the people linking determinism and moral responsibility are going to be taken seriously, but still just for the sake of discussion, here I present my case for moral responsibility in absence of free will.
We don't have free will. That means whatever action one takes is caused by myriad other factors, not by one's own will, thus making the agent free of responsibility of that action. According to these people, if someone commits a crime, we can't hold him morally responsible. It follows that there's no question of punishment. Appalling that would be! Right?
Well, hold on, says I. Okay, we don't have free will. Now say, Mr. X has raped a woman, and you are saying that he is not responsible for it on account of lack of free will. But when you tell me to not punish him, aren't you assuming that I have free will to take the decision whether to punish him or not? If there's no free will, no one has free will. So, you can't blame me for punishing Mr. X, the rapist, any more than you can blame him for his crime! You can't even ask me to consider it because I don't have free will to consider it with, man! I will punish him, and that punishment might well be "caused" by his criminal action quite in accord with determinism! See the point?
To consider whether we should hold someone morally responsible for his bad actions, referring to the lack of free will, is itself an act that requires free will, whether real or illusory. Since I have already agreed for this post that we don't have free will it must be illusory. So, let's say using an illusory free will, you decide that the rapist should not be punished because he doesn't have free will; but still the decision to not hold him accountable or punish him is itself arrived at using free will (however illusory)! And if you think we could use our illusory free will to consider whether or not to hold him accountable then why except him from the use of the same illusory free will? Do you see the implication such thinking will have on the society? Disastrous! So, why not instead by using the illusory free will take the decision of punishing him and thereby save the society of the doom!
Actually, there's no need of free will to punish an action which is detrimental to one's survival. Our instincts are enough to make us take the counter actions. For those people, to act otherwise, i.e. to defend someone because there's no free will, is to use one's (illusory, yeah?) free will in taking the decision, and thereby acting against their own position; or otherwise, insane – for choosing to run into disaster when the better decision could be taken just as well!
Hence, to those intellectual perverts (yes, that's what I call them who "seriously" live with such absurd views – and there are quite a few around me, if you're wondering!): As long as humans haven't totally lost sanity whether we believe we have free will or not, people will still be held morally responsible and accordingly be punished as well.
Determinism is linked to moral responsibility by some people in a sense that if determinism is true then we don't have free will, and if we don't have free will then how can we hold someone responsible for what he does?
To begin with, I will declare my position on both determinism and free will. I do believe determinism is true. As for free will, I think determinism doesn't necessarily preclude free will. However, the answer to the question of free will isn't so simple in that it depends on the level from where we are looking at life. (Read my case for free will for detailed account of my view.) If we look at life from the point outside of (or prior to) our consciousness then we are but passive atoms and molecules in motion subject to the laws of physics, and hence we can't be said to have free will. But I believe that since we exist (as an autonomous ego-entity, with the ability to see itself as distinct from the universe) only in post-consciousness realm, this question is only relevant after the point where we came to exist, because it's about "us" having or not having the will. We exist only through our consciousness, and therein we do have free will. (That's why I can even think about it now!) Saying that free will is an illusion would be to say that we (the "autonomous" beings) too are illusions; and if everything is illusion then we must accept that that's the only way things are, and that automatically renders everything real. Therefore, I lean towards the position that we do have free will.
[Comments on my stance on free will must go to this post and not on the current one, as the main topic here is different.]
Are you thinking that this is the argument I am going to use for unlinking determinism from moral responsibility? Well, No! Rather, I am going to concede for this post that we don't have free will. And still I have a case for moral responsibility! Not that I am afraid that the people linking determinism and moral responsibility are going to be taken seriously, but still just for the sake of discussion, here I present my case for moral responsibility in absence of free will.
A Case for Moral Responsibility in Absence of Free Will
We don't have free will. That means whatever action one takes is caused by myriad other factors, not by one's own will, thus making the agent free of responsibility of that action. According to these people, if someone commits a crime, we can't hold him morally responsible. It follows that there's no question of punishment. Appalling that would be! Right?
Well, hold on, says I. Okay, we don't have free will. Now say, Mr. X has raped a woman, and you are saying that he is not responsible for it on account of lack of free will. But when you tell me to not punish him, aren't you assuming that I have free will to take the decision whether to punish him or not? If there's no free will, no one has free will. So, you can't blame me for punishing Mr. X, the rapist, any more than you can blame him for his crime! You can't even ask me to consider it because I don't have free will to consider it with, man! I will punish him, and that punishment might well be "caused" by his criminal action quite in accord with determinism! See the point?
To consider whether we should hold someone morally responsible for his bad actions, referring to the lack of free will, is itself an act that requires free will, whether real or illusory. Since I have already agreed for this post that we don't have free will it must be illusory. So, let's say using an illusory free will, you decide that the rapist should not be punished because he doesn't have free will; but still the decision to not hold him accountable or punish him is itself arrived at using free will (however illusory)! And if you think we could use our illusory free will to consider whether or not to hold him accountable then why except him from the use of the same illusory free will? Do you see the implication such thinking will have on the society? Disastrous! So, why not instead by using the illusory free will take the decision of punishing him and thereby save the society of the doom!
Actually, there's no need of free will to punish an action which is detrimental to one's survival. Our instincts are enough to make us take the counter actions. For those people, to act otherwise, i.e. to defend someone because there's no free will, is to use one's (illusory, yeah?) free will in taking the decision, and thereby acting against their own position; or otherwise, insane – for choosing to run into disaster when the better decision could be taken just as well!
Hence, to those intellectual perverts (yes, that's what I call them who "seriously" live with such absurd views – and there are quite a few around me, if you're wondering!): As long as humans haven't totally lost sanity whether we believe we have free will or not, people will still be held morally responsible and accordingly be punished as well.
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