You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: [PSYCHOLOGY/PHILOSOPHY] The Nature of The Unconscious
How many millions of dollars wasted on commercials if there is no free will. And why punis people and make laws if everything is given all the time deterministically ?
Crime and punishment in relation to free will vs determinism is actually discussed very lively today within criminology, philosophy of law, neuroscience and psychology. Either way, it's not likely that we in any foreseeable future will be able to establish whether we have a free will or not. But already today criminal law take into account the degrees of freedom, and in offenses where the will of the defendant is considered to have been limited it will be seen as a mitigating circumstance. A fully deterministic approach is unlikely though. We simply must assume that we to some extent have agency and can control ourselves, even if the degree of freedom vary from small to minimal.
Some food for thought:
http://blogs.nature.com/soapboxscience/2013/03/13/crime-and-punishment-from-the-neuroscience-of-freewill-to-legal-reform
https://danielmiessler.com/blog/free-will-and-punishment/
http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686970.html
http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199779208.001.0001/acprof-9780199779208-chapter-12
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/minimizing-belief-in-free-will-may-lessen-support-for-criminal-punishment.html
Determinism is a religious approach to free will. God is free to choose, but humans are not. Determinism is another word for I will not take responsibility for my own actions. Sorry dude, that is my philosophy ... i made a podcast about it