RE: A thing about religious (and other) people and the illusion of free will
November 10, 2023 at 11:19 am
(This post was last modified: November 10, 2023 at 11:22 am by The Grand Nudger.)
Moral culpability and legality are pretty distinct things, right? It's not inconceivable that a person burns down a building and is apprehended as having done something good or righteous or justified - a hero - but it's still arson. Conversely, to find a course of action reprehensible and utterly unconscionable - but perfectly legal.
The simple answer is that we prevent arsonists from lighting fires because they are arsonists. Because those fires often turn out to be consequential. Because we have a compelling interest in preventing arson. I don't see how it would matter, to that, whether we believed that they were morally culpable or whether we believed they could help themselves. We blame them for the fire because they started the fire. We restrict their freedom so that they do not start more fires.
I think the sort of blame he's referring to is when we say that a - because they are arsonists they are evil...and b - because they are evil we should go above and beyond preventing them from starting more fires, go beyond holding them responsible for damages to the extent that they can be held responsible. When blame on flimsy premises becomes the cause for retributive, rather than reformative or restorative justice.
The simple answer is that we prevent arsonists from lighting fires because they are arsonists. Because those fires often turn out to be consequential. Because we have a compelling interest in preventing arson. I don't see how it would matter, to that, whether we believed that they were morally culpable or whether we believed they could help themselves. We blame them for the fire because they started the fire. We restrict their freedom so that they do not start more fires.
I think the sort of blame he's referring to is when we say that a - because they are arsonists they are evil...and b - because they are evil we should go above and beyond preventing them from starting more fires, go beyond holding them responsible for damages to the extent that they can be held responsible. When blame on flimsy premises becomes the cause for retributive, rather than reformative or restorative justice.
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