PaulSacramento wrote:The problem Nils, is that it has NOTHING to do with YOU.
You view works because YOU have not been brought up in a civilization that actually believes your view.
Paul, I am not certain about you what this argument implies even if it were true, but as I wrote earlier
"However, we can hold persons responsible for their act, using a consequential perspective. They are not MR because who they are, what motives they have etc. They are only MR because we need rules how to behave in a society. By adapting this idea we can skip or at least mitigate the feelings of retribution and instead try to rehabilitate the person. This was the official purpose of the criminal system in Sweden about 1940 - 1970. Then the idea of proportionality was introduced, the idea that the punishment should be proportional to the crime. But that idea was part of the criminal system also earlier even if not officially declared."
In short, you can "afford" to view things that way because someone else has already "paid" the price and established a civilization that works.
We are all standing on the shoulder of giants benefiting from what earlier generations have done. Is that wrong? Isn't it positive that we can refine earlier developments. Is it an argument against the validity of a theory that it has evolved gradually?
You sill haven't explained why I should, following your view, not do whatever I want to.
You can do whatever you want, the discussion is about free will i.e. free wanting. You can not control what you want, you desires, your preferences etc momentarily. In the long run you may control some of them given that you have stronger desires etc that overruns you weaker ones. But still what you really want depends on the circumstances, internal and external.
Nils
