RE: Richard Dawkins' Faith In Free Will Is As Blind As A Christians To God
July 4, 2010 at 12:12 am
(July 2, 2010 at 11:59 am)Eilonnwy Wrote: If free will is proven to be untrue, and determinism correct, which I personally don't think is the case, would we have to then accept that a murderer was going to murder no matter what? So maybe he's really not responsible for his actions, he was destined to do it all along, how can we punish him?
It makes no difference in either model. You are either attempting to prevent the outcome of predetermined mechanism (a murderous individual) or attempting prevent the recurrence of actions taken by an individual who chose to murder - in both cases the individual is still acting against the interests of society.
Also, the action taken against the individual in question would also be predetermined in the former, so I don't see any moral problems in taking action.
Quote:Free will vs. determinism is an interesting debate, I think essentially it's still very much up in the air, so someone who espouses determinism could very likely be as faith based as you claim free will is.
That is why the only rational response to ether proposition is to withhold judgement.
Quote:Practically we must attribute actions to free will, otherwise how can society work? How do we determine responsibility for evil actions, such as murder and rape?
That is an argument from ignorance. An algorithm and complex mechanics could just as easily account for social interactions. If you can believe based on evidence that a pattern in a feedback loop is responsible for the rest of existence then by what thought do you exclude social dynamics?
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