Interestingly enough, I just watched the Minority Report(or part of it, anyway) and I thought it was a rather interesting moral question for those who do not beleive in free will.(Although the movie itself is only decent.)
If there is no such thing as free will, then all action and reaction can be, to soem extent, predicted. Wouldn't this suggest that if we have suitable means of predicting a person's actions before they happen, we are obligated to prevent those actions, if they are a crime in the eyes of the law? This denies people the ability, capacity, and fundamental right to make split-second decisions based entirely on internal changes.
Basically, if there is no such thing as free will, then this kind of pre-emptive stoppage of crime is permissable. Even though it is a violation of human rights.
Contrarily, if such action is predictable to a point,(excluding the aforementioned split-second changes) then the way of things would seem to suggest that their is a pre-ordained structure or 'plan' for the future. It might be considered a scientifically plausible kind of 'Fate.' "Science has stolen most of our miracles."
Interesting, innit?
If there is no such thing as free will, then all action and reaction can be, to soem extent, predicted. Wouldn't this suggest that if we have suitable means of predicting a person's actions before they happen, we are obligated to prevent those actions, if they are a crime in the eyes of the law? This denies people the ability, capacity, and fundamental right to make split-second decisions based entirely on internal changes.
Basically, if there is no such thing as free will, then this kind of pre-emptive stoppage of crime is permissable. Even though it is a violation of human rights.
Contrarily, if such action is predictable to a point,(excluding the aforementioned split-second changes) then the way of things would seem to suggest that their is a pre-ordained structure or 'plan' for the future. It might be considered a scientifically plausible kind of 'Fate.' "Science has stolen most of our miracles."
Interesting, innit?
