mixile t1_j99g96e wrote
What does free mean? Why do we need a concept of control in order to blame? I can chuck out a faulty coffee maker and I can morally blame a faulty human, if I am willing to thing of humans as a morality machine.
Every time I read about compatibilism I think of the god of the gaps. Except this latest argument does not even appear to be an argument. It seems to say, despite all evidence correctly pointing to our machine like nature bound by physical laws and our physical form, nevertheless we are free. But it says nothing about what freedom is and why that enables us to blame.
InTheEndEntropyWins t1_j9a9qv6 wrote
I'm sure there are other definitions, but I use something like free will is about "the ability to make voluntary actions in line with your desires free from external coercion/influence".
Free will is key in morality and justice, so I like to understand how the courts define and use it. Lets use a real life example of how the Supreme Court considers free will.
​
>It is a principle of fundamental justice that only voluntary conduct – behaviour that is the product of a free will and controlled body, unhindered by external constraints – should attract the penalty and stigma of criminal liability.
>
>https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1861/index.do
In the case of R. v. Ruzic
>The accused had been coerced by an individual in Colombia to smuggle cocaine into the United States. He was told that if he did not comply, his wife and child in Colombia would be harmed.
The Supreme Court found that he didn't smuggle the cocaine of his own free will. He didn't do it in line with his desires free from external coercion. Hence they were found innocent.
mixile t1_j9ac6q7 wrote
What does voluntary mean? What does free from external coercion mean? Can you define free will without using the word free? Can you define free?
Also your definition doesn’t seem to make sense in a compatibilist view either. Can your decision be both determined and “free” from external influence?
I honestly suspect you can make free will mean whatever you want it to mean if you don’t have to define the word free and you go around thinking about it in the context of how you morally feel about the context in which people were acting.
InTheEndEntropyWins t1_j9akmlo wrote
>What does voluntary mean?
We just use the medical definition. It's when you deliberately do something. So if you deliberately shake you hand that's voluntary. But if you try and keep you had still but it shakes because you have Parkinson's, that involuntary.
With sufficient technology you could scan someone's brain and differentiate between voluntary and involuntary actions.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments