‘Unless we assume that everyone is free to make moral choices, we have no right to punish criminals’. Discuss

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'Unless we assume that everyone is free to make moral choices, we have no right to punish criminals'. Discuss

According to the Hard Determinist view, freedom is an illusion. Humans cannot be punished because just punishment presupposes blame. We cannot be blamed for the actions we take because the choices we make are predetermined by factors beyond our control. As science advances, there is increasing evidence that human nature is the product of genetic inheritance and up bringing. According to this view, humans are not 'autonomous', as was once believed. Historically, the human race has set itself apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. Along with Aristotle, we regarded ourselves to be at the top of the hierarchy, as we possess the unique ability to make moral decisions. On the hard determinist view, we do not exist independently of the rest of nature, and are indeed subject to the same physical laws which govern the behaviour of other animals. Human beings in their present form are the products of the same evolutionary processes which have created every other creature in the world. Man is not independent of the rest of nature. Hard determinists maintain that everything in the universe, including human action, has a cause which precedes it. This is the Theory of Universal Causation. That the cause of events is not known does not matter. A doctor who cannot find the cause of a particular disease will not conclude that it is uncaused, merely that the cause is unknown.

Humans are not 'free' agents, but beings which are fully governed by the psychological and physiological factors which form the self. The 'self' which makes decisions acts under the influence of the factors which created it. The factors which form the self are the also the causes of the decisions we make. In the same way as a computer acts according to how it has been programmed, so the human brain acts according to the factors which created it. We may think that we are free when we make decisions, but our decisions are in fact causally determined.

However, the defining feature of a moral act is that it is a free act; an act without a sufficient set of causes. A choice cannot be made if there is only one option. Herein lies the difficulty. If human nature is the result of certain external factors, behaviour is, at least in theory, predictable. We can only make one choice-that which is compatible with our nature, having been determined by factors beyond our control.

Within determinism, there are varying opinions as to exactly what predetermines our lives and our choices. On the theological view, God predetermines our lives, by creating us and endowing us with the genetic inheritance which determines action. Psalm139:13...16:

'You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother's womb....The days allotted to me had already been recorded in your book, before any of them ever began.'

We are his sheep, following the path which he laid down for us. Calvin held that every human's destiny was determined by God as his foreknowledge of our character enables him to know what will happen. Psalm 139:4:

'....you know all my actions. Even before I speak, you already know what I will say'

The scientific approach is similar, (that genetic inheritance determines character and therefore action), but may not agree that God is the source of this inheritance. Behaviourists such as John B. Watson asserted that our selves and actions are 'conditioned' by external factors which are beyond our control. These factors determine our actions. They are the causes of action-therefore a free choice is impossible. Bio-behaviourists place greater importance on genetics as the ultimate determinant of action. It has been suggested that homosexuality is the result of genetic inheritance. Feminist and violent tendancies, for example can be attributed to certain combinations of X and Y chromosomes in the sex-cells. This is why we cannot be held responsible for our actions, because what we do is beyond our control. Just punishment presupposes moral blame. We cannot choose, so cannot be held morally blameworthy. Any perception of freedom is an illusion. Any decisions we make are the effect of previous causes, not our own volition. We are merely puppets of factors beyond our control. We are victims of circumstance.
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Determinists may argue that theirs is also a very healthy view. The reassessment of our position in the natural world and recognition that humans are subject to the same physical laws as the rest of nature, leads us to reject the idea that we are superior: the belief which has led us to abuse animals and the rest of nature. Accepting ourselves to be merely another component part of nature would surely encourage us to live more harmoniously with the rest of nature, not to abuse and destroy it for our own ends.

To retain the idea ...

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