Destiny & Free Will, #4 [Period 1, Monday, July 28]

[atreideslioness]

"I haven't scared you off yet?" Ghanima asked, looking up from her game of chess. "Fantastic."

"The question of free will is if, and in what sense, rational agents exercise control over their actions and decisions," Ghani said, hopping off her desk to wander haphazardly among the desks. "Addressing this question requires understanding the relationship between freedom and cause, and determining whether the laws of nature are causally deterministic. Sounds fun, hrm?"  

"The principle of free will has religious, ethical, and scientific implications. For example, in the religious realm, free will may imply that an omnipotent divinity does not assert its power over individual will and choices. In the ethical sense, it may imply that individuals can be held morally accountable for their actions. And last, but far from least, in the scientific arena it may imply that the actions of the body, including the brain and the mind, are not wholly determined by physical causality. Needless to say, the question of free will has been a central issue since the beginning of philosophical thought."

"Society generally holds people responsible for their actions, if law and order prevail, and will say that they deserve praise or blame for what they do." Ghanima shook her head, mouth pinched in distaste. "However, many believe that moral responsibility requires free will. If you have no free will, then how can you be held responsible for anything? Thus, another important issue in the debate on free will is whether individuals are ever morally responsible for their actions—and, if so, in what sense."

"There is an example that those of you native to this planet and era may be familiar with," she said, walking forward to being writing on the board.  "St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans addresses the question of moral responsibility as follows: "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" If you follow Paul's line of reasoning, individuals can still be dishonoured for their acts even though those acts were ultimately completely determined by God."

"Of course, no matter the rules one chooses to abide by, there are almost always exceptions," Ghanima stated. "One exception to the assumption that moral culpability lies in either individual character or freely willed acts is in cases where the insanity defense—or its corollary, diminished responsibility—can be used to argue that a guilty deed was not the product of a guilty mind. In such cases, the legal systems of most Western societies assume that the person is in some way not at fault, because his actions were a consequence of abnormal brain functions."

"Now, then, let's ponder." Ghanima leaned against the wall to survey the room. "Moral responsibility, madness, and free will. Go." 

[OOC:  Wait for the OCD is up!  Hit it!]

Comments

Re: Class Discussion: Moral Responsibility

[endsthegame]

Ender was silent for a long while. He thought of a great many things that hung heavily on his shoulders; about the trial, and about the colonists who tried to sweep him up in their arms and tell him it wasn't his fault.

He was surprised by how calm, how disaffected his voice rang out when he finally spoke. "You're still the one who pulled the trigger," he said, "Whatever anyone else thinks, the guilt is still yours." He should probably say more, but now that he'd been given the opportunity, he didn't know how to put more words to it than that.

Re: Class Discussion: Moral Responsibility

[atreideslioness]

"Is a sword culpable for the swing initiated by the wielder?" Ghanima asked, "Or the gun to blame for the choice of target? If we hold all peoples equally responsible, no matter the circumstances, we may as well begin to assign blame to inanimate objects as well."