What if we have to give up "praiseworthiness" ?
The response to this generally goes one of two directions. Either an appeal to consequences: we can't give up praiseworthiness because that would be bad. Or, an unsupported defense of an abstract: We can't give up praiseworthiness because it's real, I can feel it! Ultimately, if we dispense with free will, we're not going to be able to retain everything but free will, and just pivot everything around. Some things will change, such as praiseworthiness or the motivations for punishment. Some things may have to be relinquished, like moral desert. The desire to retain the familiar in the face of the strange is nothing more than an appeal to emotion. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If free will has to go, it's going to drag whole constellations of concepts out of their familiar orbits. This is just how it has to be.
The response to this generally goes one of two directions. Either an appeal to consequences: we can't give up praiseworthiness because that would be bad. Or, an unsupported defense of an abstract: We can't give up praiseworthiness because it's real, I can feel it! Ultimately, if we dispense with free will, we're not going to be able to retain everything but free will, and just pivot everything around. Some things will change, such as praiseworthiness or the motivations for punishment. Some things may have to be relinquished, like moral desert. The desire to retain the familiar in the face of the strange is nothing more than an appeal to emotion. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If free will has to go, it's going to drag whole constellations of concepts out of their familiar orbits. This is just how it has to be.
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