Steve, inserted On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 2:08 PM, Steven Peterson <[email protected]> wrote: > 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.
[IG] Sorry Steve, but the "punishment" or "treatment" would be different if we saw a difference between intentional free-will actions and subconsciously determined actions. The "offender" - their conscious mind - would be held wilfuly responsible in one case and accidentally causally responsible in another. I don't see how you can say there is no difference - you just swapped free-will vs determinism for intented vs unintended actions. > > 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. [IG] BTW, If ? What do you mean if ? Cheeky sod. > > 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
