If you want to believe those ignorant hacks over at Stanford....
Compatibilism offers a solution to the free will problem. This philosophical problem concerns a disputed incompatibility between free will and determinism. Compatibilism is the thesis that free will is compatible with determinism. Because free will is typically taken to be a NECESSARY CONDITION OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY, compatibilism is sometimes expressed in terms of a compatibility between moral responsibility and determinism. 1. Terminology and One Formulation of the Free Will Problem 1.1 Free Will It would be misleading to specify a strict definition of free will since in the philosophical work devoted to this notion there is probably no single concept of it. For the most part, what philosophers working on this issue have been hunting for, maybe not exclusively, but centrally, is a feature of agency that is necessary for persons to be MORALLY RESPONSIBLE for their conduct.[1] Different attempts to articulate the conditions for moral responsibility will yield different accounts of the sort of AGENCY REQUIRED to satisfy those conditions. What is needed, then, as a starting point, is a gentle, malleable notion that focuses upon special features of persons as AGENTS. Hence, as a theory-neutral point of departure, free will can be defined as the unique ability of persons [MOQ differs here] to exercise control over their conduct in the fullest manner NECESSARY FOR MORAL RESPONSIBILITY.[2] Clearly, this definition is too lean when taken as an endpoint; the hard philosophical work is about how best to develop this special kind of control. But however this notion of control is developed, its uniqueness consists, at least in part, in being possessed only by persons. 1.2 Moral Responsibility A person who is a morally responsible agent is NOT MERELY a person who is ABLE to do moral right or wrong. Beyond this, she is ACCOUNTABLE for her morally significant conduct. Hence, she is, when fitting, an apt target of MORAL PRAISE or BLAME, as well as reward or punishment. Free will is understood as a necessary condition of MORAL RESPONSIBILITY since it would seem unreasonable to say of a person that she deserves blame and punishment for her conduct if it turned out that she was not at any point in time in control of it. (Similar things can be said about praise and reward.) It is PRIMARILY, though not exclusively, BECAUSE of the INTIMATE CONNECTION between free will and moral responsibility that the free will problem is seen as an important one.[3] > Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 09:08:38 -0400 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MD] Moral Responsibility without free will > > Hi Ian, > > Ian: > > I am at a loss to understand how you are separating free-will from > > responsibility (at any level, common sense, science, MoQ or > > metaphysical in general). > > Steve: > This is link is not a logical necessity because even if we accept for > the sake of argument that determinism is true, we would have to > imprison people who demonstrate the will to harm others. This desire > to harm others is morally blameworthy even if the one who holds this > desire holds it for reasons completely outside of the control of his > consciousness. If society dropped the idea of free will, it would > still need to carry out punishments of some criminals _because_ such > actions have predictable effects on criminals. If we think that > punishments will modify the behavior of criminals, we don't withhold > them because we think that criminals have the "free will" to prevent > the modification of their behavior. The reason we have the greatest > concern for intentions is because intentional behavior is often > modifiable while unintended behavior is generally less so. > > By the way, Ian, if you are interested in what modern brain science > has to say on the subject of free will you should check out David > Eagleman's book "Incognito." It is a fascinating read. > > Best, > Steve > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
