(October 24, 2013 at 8:38 pm)bennyboy Wrote: Wait a minute. We've agreed on one of the criteria in establishing moral agency: "the capacity to reflect rationally upon one's thoughts, desires and motivations and act accordingly" However, this quality is not sufficient to establish moral agency. The thoughts must be based on certain kinds of ideas, and these must come from experience. The motivations must involve a desire for the wellbeing of others, or at least a fear of being socially castigated for violating that wellbeing.
I disagree. Irrespective of what the thoughts are based on or where they come from, if the agent has the capacity to reflect on them, then he is regarded as a moral agent. There are other criteria - such as he must be free to act according to them - but the objection here is not one of them.
(October 24, 2013 at 8:38 pm)bennyboy Wrote: Otherwise, a sociopath could say, "Hmmmm. I have a desire to see what people do when I peel off their skin in my basement. If I present candy to enough children, I will eventually find one willing to follow me into my house," and be called a moral agent by your definition.
And he is regarded as a moral agent. Which is why he is held responsible for his actions.
(October 24, 2013 at 8:38 pm)bennyboy Wrote: At some point, we have to accept that morality depends on ideas about what is good or bad, and that these ideas require experience, and that experience varies from person to person.
Its the other way around. The ideas about what is good or bad depends on the morality you've chosen. That your choice of morality can vary due to subjective experience does not preclude the possibility of there being an objective one.
(October 24, 2013 at 8:38 pm)bennyboy Wrote: I'm not so sure the desire to be happy IS foundational to human behavior. The majority of people are largely unhappy, I believe, and this is due to their decision-making and to the ideas they adopt. If you really wanted to be happy, you could choose to see goodness in your current circumstances, and not to desire change.
While I've already said that it is not an established fact that the desire to be happy is foundational to human behavior - however, the fact that most people are unhappy is not evidence against it. Just because you desire to be happy does not mean you'd automatically know how to be. Further, "In order to be happy, you could choose to see goodness in your current circumstances and not desire change" - is not an established fact either.
