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> As soon as you are diagnosed you are excused. Not excused, but allowances made. Unless somebody is an actual danger to others, if they exhibit some behaviour

> As soon as you are diagnosed you are excused. Not excused, but allowances made. Unless somebody is an actual danger to others, if they exhibit some behaviour they have little or no conscious control over (such as is the case in schizophrenia, Tourette's, &c.), then they deserve at least some leeway. If it's possible for you to consciously work towards controlling such behaviour, then they deserve some leeway, just not as much. But regular assholes don't get a free pass in my book, though. Terry Davis has delusions he can't do much about, and that makes him different from somebody not dealing with schizophrenia, whose problem isn't due to delusions, but attitudes. This is an important difference, regardless of whether you consider free will to be a thing or not. You might find this episode of the Rationally Speaking podcast interesting, as the guest aligns in some interesting ways with your point of view, and diverges in some even more interesting ones: http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs-163-gregg-caruso-on-free-will-and-moral-responsibility.html http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/show/rs-163-gregg-carus...

anotheryou 10y ago
Thanks, will give it a listen. And yes, my point of view becomes more difficult the more rational the person acts when doing harm. The stereotypical evil banker is such a case, I find it much harder to find sympathy for him than for the crazy guy who does something horrible in a delusional state of mind. I think it also makes sense to punish the rational criminal harder, because it actually might help, while the delusional person needs another kind of help. I'm not sure how much you can do about your attitudes, I think freedom of will is an illusion. If you decide to turn your life around and become a good person, what made you do that? What made another one not do that? I think it's, as said, just the consequence of everything that ever happened before. I sadly can't find the article anymore, in which it said that the illusion of a self and free will is important to stay the same person over time and that only than, someone can be held responsible for something and that society can only work if you have something to fear from doing wrong. In the article it was even mentioned to be proven by some simple evolutionary algorithm.

anotheryou 10y ago

Thanks, will give it a listen. And yes, my point of view becomes more difficult the more rational the person acts when doing harm. The stereotypical evil banker is such a case, I find it much harder to find sympathy for him than for the crazy guy who does something horrible in a delusional state of mind. I think it also makes sense to punish the rational criminal harder, because it actually might help, while the delusional person needs another kind of help. I'm not sure how much you can do about your attitudes, I think freedom of will is an illusion. If you decide to turn your life around and become a good person, what made you do that? What made another one not do that? I think it's, as said, just the consequence of everything that ever happened before. I sadly can't find the article anymore, in which it said that the illusion of a self and free will is important to stay the same person over time and that only than, someone can be held responsible for something and that society can only work if you have something to fear from doing wrong. In the article it was even mentioned to be proven by some simple evolutionary algorithm.