RE: Do Nonhuman Animals Have Souls?
April 11, 2018 at 1:59 am
(This post was last modified: April 11, 2018 at 2:05 am by vulcanlogician.)
Lutrinae, CL is right. It's conditioning when like your dog shits on the floor and they get all nervous when you walk in the door. The dog doesn't understand why it's wrong only that it's wrong. And I use "wrong" in the latter instance loosely. The dog doesn't understand that now you have to go through all the trouble of cleaning it up.
Even humans at a very young age are not morally responsible. We use positive reinforcement and punishment on children to condition them to obey (for instance don't touch the stove) at an early age. But they don't know why what they are doing is wrong. That is a key ingredient for moral responsibility.
When I was two years old, I pulled my mom's gearshift and sent the car drifting backwards into the neighbor's house. I had no way of knowing what would happen when I did this. Nor was I responsible for my action. If I did that today, knowing full well what would happen as a result, I would be (by definition) morally responsible.
Even humans at a very young age are not morally responsible. We use positive reinforcement and punishment on children to condition them to obey (for instance don't touch the stove) at an early age. But they don't know why what they are doing is wrong. That is a key ingredient for moral responsibility.
When I was two years old, I pulled my mom's gearshift and sent the car drifting backwards into the neighbor's house. I had no way of knowing what would happen when I did this. Nor was I responsible for my action. If I did that today, knowing full well what would happen as a result, I would be (by definition) morally responsible.
