What's the best response to someone who believes in hard determinism but also uses this to deny responsibility for any immoral actions they commit? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by PlogLod@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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That is, they think all of their decisions were preordained, and then use this to claim that they can't be held responsible for anything they do.

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[-] bogdugg@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

One interpretation would be Many Worlds; that is, every quantum possibility is real in its own multiversal branch. So, to assign moral agency you would need to show that I chose the world I'm in now, over some other version of my life in which different choices were made. Although, I'm not certain you even need to go that far: I have no idea to what degree quantum randomness can actually affect our choices. But, in any case, that too would be out of our control.

this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023

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