I suppose that the idea is reform the system to reflect a purely consequentialist or
utilitarian ethic. It's partly there already, but it gets distorted a lot by ideas of
purity and sacredness (to use Jonathan Haidt's terminology); like "It's just WRONG to get
pleasure from drugs."
Brent
On 6/4/2012 10:55 AM, Joseph Knight wrote:
While I agree about the judicial system, any system worth having should not hinge upon
metaphysical conclusions regarding free will. It's bizarre (and somewhat
anti-democratic) to say that we can or should argue for/against some political issue on
this basis.
The underlying assumption seems to be that the judicial system is somehow "just" in the
event that we really do have free will, which is hilariously naive.
On Mon, Jun 4, 2012 at 11:23 AM, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net
<mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>> wrote:
My friend Vic Stenger has written a blog on free will, mostly in response
to Sam Harris
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victor-stenger/free-will-is-an-illusion_b_1562533.html?ref=science
(don't bother to read the comments)
Vic suggests dropping the term 'free will' and using the term 'autonomy' to
refer to
the social/legal concept of acting free of coercion.
And Jerry Coyne has also commented.
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/victor-stenger-and-janna-levin-on-our-lack-of-free-will/
(do read the comments)
He is strictly a determinist and denies the implication of compatibilism
that there
some 'free will' (or autonomy) worth having. But interestingly both he and
Vic
conclude that this implies we need to overhaul our judicial system, while
Harris is
not so sure.
Brent
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