There is an undeniable human tendency to see ourselves as free and morally responsible beings. But there’s a problem.
We also believe—most of us anyhow—that our environment and our heredity entirely shape our characters (what else could?). But we aren’t responsible for our environment, and we aren’t responsible for our heredity. So we aren’t responsible for our characters.
But then how can we be responsible for acts that arise from our characters?
There’s a simple but extremely unpopular answer to this question: We aren’t. We are not and cannot be ultimately responsible for our behavior
Einstein himself, in a piece written as a homage to the Indian mystical poet Rabindranath Tagore, said that “a Being endowed with higher insight and more perfect intelligence, watching man and his doings, would smile about man’s illusion that he was acting according to his own free will.”
Source: Galen Strawson on free will
English lessons on Skype at: http://tutoringexcellence.blogspot.co.uk/
Books by Peter Cheevers at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=peter+cheevers&x=0&y=0
We also believe—most of us anyhow—that our environment and our heredity entirely shape our characters (what else could?). But we aren’t responsible for our environment, and we aren’t responsible for our heredity. So we aren’t responsible for our characters.
But then how can we be responsible for acts that arise from our characters?
There’s a simple but extremely unpopular answer to this question: We aren’t. We are not and cannot be ultimately responsible for our behavior
Einstein himself, in a piece written as a homage to the Indian mystical poet Rabindranath Tagore, said that “a Being endowed with higher insight and more perfect intelligence, watching man and his doings, would smile about man’s illusion that he was acting according to his own free will.”
Source: Galen Strawson on free will
English lessons on Skype at: http://tutoringexcellence.blogspot.co.uk/
Books by Peter Cheevers at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=peter+cheevers&x=0&y=0
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