What is the relationship between freedom and moral responsibility?

Kant Said… Adam Kant believed that humans are free to make rational choices. Without freedom, the possibility of making moral choices is denied. To reason/rationalise sets us apart from other animals. We cannot blame someone for not doing what they could not do. If people are not free, the possibility of making moral choices is denied. If human actions are caused by external influences, then people cannot be held responsible for those actions.

What curtails our freedom? – genetics To know how genetics can be an influence on action.

What curtails our freedom? What is the theory of genetics? Living beings pass on and inherit traits from their parents. Traits are passed on through genes which make up the DNA of an individual. Genes are directly responsible for the way in which a person looks, their sex, hair colour, race and many other factors. As the science of genetics has developed specific genes are being identified as factors in other human functions.

GENETICS and ENVIRONMENT Scientists are starting to unravel how much impact genetic combinations might have on our PREDISPOSITIONS to act in a certain way. Some hold that we may be far more programmed than we originally thought. Both in terms of our genetic heritage and also in our social upbringing.

What genes are there? Gay gene Gambling gene Obesity gene

Dawkins proposes that the selfish gene is programmed to survive and to replicate. Genes determine behaviour but humans may develop the ability to act otherwise. ??????? However, this should not be confused with being able to make free choices. ??????

Dawkins argues: “I think that everything about life is a product of the evolutionary process and consciousness must be part of the evolutionary process (What do you think? Is there more crime; mental illness etc today?) So I think that has got to mean that consciousness is ultimately a material phenomenon”.

Simon Blackburn

Simon Blackburn accepts some of the arguments that Dawkins puts forward. But says that humans always have room for what he terms Input Responsiveness. By this he means that humans always have the ability to vary behaviour in response to external factors. So we are genetically made not to be determined! Billy???

WHAT AFFECTS US? NATURE NURTURE GENETICS PARENTAL UPBRINGING PEER GROUP SOCIAL CLASS EDUCATION

What curtails our freedom? – will power To know how we limit our own freedom.

SELF RESTRAINT AND WILLPOWER Desires and actions can be stopped by willpower and self restraint. Some people are able to control their urges and limit their freedom. Not all people are able to resist temptations Self restraint may have a genetic disposition but it may be due to ethical or religious beliefs The beliefs of the person may be strong enough to limit their own freedom.

SELF RESTRAINT AND WILLPOWER Can you stop your desire? What is it that stops desire? Alex FREE WILL?

Why would she do this…

Married teacher runs away with student

Married teacher runs away with student The devastated family of a schoolgirl who ran away to France with her married teacher pleaded with her to "come home safe". Megan Stammers, 15, boarded a Channel ferry with maths teacher Jeremy Forrest, 30 Discuss…

SELF RESTRAINT AND WILLPOWER Human beings as well as being influenced by their genes are influenced by mental factors. We experience emotions and desires and these in turn are responsible for some of our actions. Romantic emotions make you act to create a relationship. Desires for food make people seek food when required. We are animals that are motivated to move/act by our desires and emotions.

ASK YOURSELF What about obedience? How can obedience be explained? Matthew Can we do the ‘wrong thing’, by being obedient? Esme.

Obedience… ASK YOURSELF In 1961, the trial of the World War II criminal Adolph Eichmann had begun. Eichmann’s defense; he was merely following instructions when he ordered the deaths of millions of Jews. If a person in a position of authority ordered you to do something similar… Eloise Will …deliver a lethal electrical shock to another person, would you follow orders? Surely people would answer this question with an adamant no; wouldn’t they? ASK YOURSELF

The Milgram Experiment Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University, conducted a study focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience.

He examined justifications for acts of genocide offered by those accused at the Nuremberg War trials. Their defence was based on "obedience" - - that they were just following the orders of their superiors.

The Milgram experiment Milgram performed a number of experiments to suggest that ordinary people could be persuaded to perform acts of cruelty simply because they were told to by a person in authority.

Watch the experiment recently re-run by Michael Portillo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6GxIuljT3w http://www.personalgrowthcourses.net/video/milgram_2009-2

A “shocking” result The experiment has been re-run several times. The conclusion has always been the same: 65% In Milgram's first set of experiments, 65% (27 out of 40) of experimental participants administered the experiment's final 450-volt shock, though many were quite uncomfortable in doing so.

Milgram’s ethical conclusion "The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act.“ –Stanley Milgram, 1974

Worrying issues about obedience Dogs can be trained to follow human orders Humans are surprisingly obedient towards authority figures In armies, soldiers are given extensive training to follow orders where most people wouldn’t. Would you?

HOMEWORK  What is meant by the phrase ‘ought’ implies ‘can’? What is the relationship between freedom and moral responsibility? “FREEWILL IS AN ILLUSION” DISCUSS Explain the differences between hard determinism, soft determinism and libertarianism. Critically evaluate each view.

What were the prompts used by the professor? "Please continue." "The experiment requires that you continue." "It is absolutely essential that you continue." "You have no other choice, you must go on."

Everyone paused at some point and questioned the experiment, some even saying they would return the cheque for the money they were paid, but no one stopped below 300v

The two meanings of duty come into conflict Meaning 1: obey a superior (without thinking) Meaning 2: obey the moral law – do the right thing (think it through)

HOMEWORK HOMEWORK: EXPLAIN LIBERTARIANISM (30 MARKS)   “FREEWILL IS AN ILLUSION” DISCUSS (20 MARKS)

HOMEWORK 1 (a) ‘Both libertarianism and determinism have a view of the human condition. Neither view matches reality.’ Explain libertarian and determinist views of the human condition. (30 marks) (b) Assess the claim that neither view of the human condition matches reality. (20 marks)