In my opinion responsibility does presuppose free will. If a person whose will was completely random and their actions were irrespective of their reason; the individual’s will would be as ‘free’ as a puppet controlled by a puppeteer.Further more I think it is almost an impossibility for one to be responsible for an action when they have had their free will taken from them (depending on the given circumstance).
How are we to understand the connection between the will of a person, and what influences it?
We can go as far to say that psychologically a person interprets influences as one wishes to, but what about the subliminal messages that seem to be in our subconscious? We are influenced by the media, society, culture, religion etc, but are we truly aware of the amount of influence others have on our moral responsibility?
If our thoughts and actions are influenced by others, are we entirely responsible for our actions? Should people of authority be allowed to have such an influence on lives?
Would it be fair to say that people’s actions can only be judged right or wrong based on their ability to act morally upon determined reason?
Recommended Reading:
Honderich, T. (no date). Free Will, Determinism and Moral Responsibility: The whole thing in brief. <http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctytho/ted12.htm>
No comments:
Post a Comment