[MD] Free Will

[Steven Peterson]

On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 7:15 PM, david buchanan <dmbuchanan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> How does "causality" work in moral reasoning? Maybe we could say that about formal logic if we were using "causal" in a figurative way but to press such a notion so far as to save moral reasoning within a deterministic view seems to stretch things well beyond the breaking point.


It means that when we deliberate about moral issues, we mentally play
out the available options before acting. We assume that our actions
have predictable consequences, and try to predict what they will be
before we act. It we did not live in a world of causes and effects, it
would do one no good to have free will, and the sort of moral
responsibility where one is thought to be responsible because of
having control only makes sense if the actions that we supposedly have
control over have predictable consequences.