4 ms·
Moral culpability would seem to go out the window in a deterministic universe, no? Not in the sense that people shouldn't be held responsible for actions, but i
by niam 3y ago
Moral culpability would seem to go out the window in a deterministic universe, no? Not in the sense that people shouldn't be held responsible for actions, but in the sense that retributive punishment becomes a much harder sell.
A murderous Roomba may warrant separation from other Roombas, or some sort of intervention which may incline it less towards murder, but we don't put it in a box or pry off its plastic for the mere sake of 'deserving it'.
- danbruc 3y agoAt least in some countries we have not been locking people up for punishment for quite some time. You go to prison to protect the public, change your behavior, and deter others from committing crimes, not for punishment. The public perception, I would guess, has not quite kept up with this development, I think that prison is for punishment is still a widespread idea.
- niam 3y ago> we have not been locking people up for punishment for quite some time Whether or not this is true seems kind of beside the point. All I'm saying as that, for an arbitrary reader, a consequence of determinism is that the morals of "desert" are meaningfully impacted—whether that convinces them against retribution, or buttresses their existing notions against it.