PHI 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Maple Syrup, Spasm, Toleration
31 Oct 2018
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Document Summary
If you have a muscle spasm and wind up smacking someone standing nearby, that seems very different from deciding to smack them, and then doing so. The ability to make decisions is a differentiating factor between humans and rocks. Similarly, responsibility is usually assigned to these decisions: the difference between choosing and having happen to you. In the latter case, it was up to you whether you smacked your sibling. And it seems like it was up to you because you were free to choose not to smack your sibling. So, a lot of people think that moral responsibility requires freedom of will. This is ofte(cid:374) su(cid:373)(cid:373)arized i(cid:374) ter(cid:373)s of the pri(cid:374)(cid:272)iple that (cid:862)ought(cid:863) i(cid:373)plies (cid:862)(cid:272)a(cid:374)(cid:863). A popular view of moral responsibility says that one is only responsible when one could have done otherwise. Keep these questions in the back of your mind as we proceed through this topic.
