CAUSAL DETERMINISM
INTRODUCTION
• The reading for this week is by Galen Strawson. He’s one of two Strawsons we’re reading this semester.
The other (Peter) is his dad.
INTRODUCTION
• The reading for this week is by Galen Strawson. He’s one of two Strawsons we’re reading this semester.
The other (Peter) is his dad.
• Strawson (the younger) argues that no one is ever morally responsible for anything.
INTRODUCTION
• The reading for this week is by Galen Strawson. He’s one of two Strawsons we’re reading this semester.
The other (Peter) is his dad.
• Strawson (the younger) argues that no one is every morally responsible for anything.
•
Suffice it to say that this is a controversial view.
INTRODUCTION
• The reading for this week is by Galen Strawson. He’s one of two Strawsons we’re reading this semester.
The other (Peter) is his dad.
• Strawson (the younger) argues that no one is every morally responsible for anything.
•
Suffice it to say that this is a controversial view.
• For today’s lesson I am going to develop an argument very similar to Strawson’s. It’s not quite the
argument that he gives, because I think this version of it makes the general issue that he’s concerned
with easier to understand than does the argument that actually appears in his paper.
SNEEZING
• In the spring my allergies act up.
SNEEZING
• It’s spring. My allergies are acting up.
• Imagine that we’re hiding from Freddie Krueger.
SNEEZING
• It’s spring. My allergies are acting up.
• Imagine that we’re hiding from Freddie Krueger.
• But because of my allergies, I sneeze and give
away our position.
SNEEZING
• I sneeze.
• Imagine that we’re hiding from Freddie Krueger.
• But because of my allergies, I sneeze and give
away our position.
• Something bad happened because of what I did,
but I’m not at fault. I’m not morally responsible
for what happened. The issue is that, even
though I sneezed, my sneeze had the wrong kind
of cause to produce moral responsibility.
SNEEZING
• I sneeze.
• Imagine that we’re hiding from Freddie Krueger.
• But because of my allergies, I sneeze and give
away our position.
• Something bad happened because of what I did,
but I’m not at fault. I’m not morally responsible
for what happened. The issue is that, even
though I sneezed, my sneeze had the wrong kind
of cause to produce moral responsibility.
• Strawson thinks that all of our actions are
similar to this.
SNEEZING
• I sneeze.
• Imagine that we’re hiding from Freddie Krueger.
• But because of my allergies, I sneeze and give
away our position.
• Something bad happened because of what I did,
but I’m not at fault. I’m not morally responsible
for what happened. The issue is that, even
though I sneezed, my sneeze had the wrong kind
of cause to produce moral responsibility.
• Strawson thinks that all of our actions are
similar to this.
• “But wait,” you say, “you don’t choose to
sneeze. It’s choice that matters!”
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
• And so (let’s imagine) I did.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
• And so (let’s imagine) I did.
• We’ll get to details in a minute, but here’s the
general idea:
•
Yes, I did choose to kill Joe.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
• And so (let’s imagine) I did.
• We’ll get to details in a minute, but here’s the
general idea:
•
Yes, I did choose to kill Joe.
•
My choice was caused by my anger.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
• We’ll get to details in a minute, but here’s the
general idea:
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
•
Yes, I did choose to kill Joe.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
•
My choice was caused by my anger.
•
My anger was caused by Joe playing bass.
• And so (let’s imagine) I did.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
• And so (let’s imagine) I did.
• We’ll get to details in a minute, but here’s the
general idea:
•
Yes, I did choose to kill Joe.
•
My choice was caused by my anger.
•
My anger was caused by Joe playing bass.
•
And Joe playing bass is something that I had no
control over.
THIS IS JOE
• Joe was my roommate in college.
• We’ll get to details in a minute, but here’s the
general idea:
•
Yes, I did choose to kill Joe.
•
My choice was caused by my anger.
•
My anger was caused by Joe playing bass.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
•
And Joe playing bass is something that I had no
control over.
• And so (let’s imagine) I did.
•
Since I had no control over it, the action that
resulted is relevantly like sneezing: it’s produced
by something that I don’t control.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
THIS IS JOE
• We’ll get to details in a minute, but here’s the
general idea:
• Joe was my roommate in college.
•
Yes, I did choose to kill Joe.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
•
My choice was caused by my anger.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
•
My anger was caused by Joe playing bass.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
•
And Joe playing bass is something that I had no
control over.
•
Since I had no control over it, the action that
resulted is relevantly like sneezing: it’s produced
by something that I don’t control.
•
And therefore I’m not responsible for it.
• And so (let’s imagine) I did.
THIS IS JOE
• We’ll get to details in a minute, but here’s the
general idea:
• Joe was my roommate in college.
•
Yes, I did choose to kill Joe.
• Joe played bass. Really loud. Late at night.
•
My choice was caused by my anger.
• This caused me to be angry at Joe.
•
My anger was caused by Joe playing bass.
•
And Joe playing bass is something that I had no
control over.
•
Since I had no control over it, the action that
resulted is relevantly like sneezing: it’s produced
by something that I don’t control.
•
And therefore I’m not responsible for it.
•
That’s the rough idea, but I know you don’t
believe it yet. Let’s look at the details of the
argument, which might make it more persuasive.
• Let’s say that one day I was so angry that I
decided to kill Joe.
• And so (let’s imagine) I did.
GENERALIZING
• First, we need to find a way to generalize. My example was about me and Joe, but Strawson thinks that
no one is ever responsible for anything.
GENERALIZING
• First, we need to find a way to generalize. My example was about me and Joe, but Strawson thinks that
no one is ever responsible for anything.
• We’re going to use the strategy that you used in middle-school geometry. If you want to prove that
every triangle has interior angles that sum to 180 degrees, how do you do it?
GENERALIZING
• First, we need to find a way to generalize. My example was about me and Joe, but Strawson thinks that
no one is ever responsible for anything.
• We’re going to use the strategy that you used in middle-school geometry. If you want to prove that
every triangle has interior angles that sum to 180 degrees, how do you do it?
• It doesn’t help to prove that this or that triangle has this property, because other triangles might not.
GENERALIZING
• First, we need to find a way to generalize. My example was about me and Joe, but Strawson thinks that
no one is ever responsible for anything.
• We’re going to use the strategy that you used in middle-school geometry. If you want to prove that
every triangle has interior angles that sum to 180 degrees, how do you do it?
• It doesn’t help to prove that this or that triangle has this property, because other triangles might not.
• The way to do it is to prove that an arbitrary triangle has this property. If you don’t make any
assumption about this triangle (besides that it’s a triangle) you know that anything that is true of it is
true of any triangle.
GENERALIZING
• First, we need to find a way to generalize. My example was about me and Joe, but Strawson thinks that
no one is ever responsible for anything.
• We’re going to use the strategy that you used in middle-school geometry. If you want to prove that
every triangle has interior angles that sum to 180 degrees, how do you do it?
• It doesn’t help to prove that this or that triangle has this property, because other triangles might not.
• The way to do it is to prove that an arbitrary triangle has this property. If you don’t make any
assumption about this triangle (besides that it’s a triangle) you know that anything that is true of it is
true of any triangle.
• We’ll do the same thing. Instead of talking about me and the act of killing, let’s just talk about person P
and act A.
GENERALIZING
• First, we need to find a way to generalize. My example was about me and Joe, but Strawson thinks that
no one is ever responsible for anything.
• We’re going to use the strategy that you used in middle-school geometry. If you want to prove that
every triangle has interior angles that sum to 180 degrees, how do you do it?
• It doesn’t help to prove that this or that triangle has this property, because other triangles might not.
• The way to do it is to prove that an arbitrary triangle has this property. If you don’t make any
assumption about this triangle (besides that it’s a triangle) you know that anything that is true of it is
true of any triangle.
• We’ll do the same thing. Instead of talking about me and the act of killing, let’s just talk about person P
and act A.
• The next step is to agree on some principles.
THE CONTROL PRINCIPLE
• The Control Principle:
If the cause of your action was outside of your
control, then you’re not responsible for that action.
THE CONTROL PRINCIPLE
• The Control Principle:
If the cause of your action was outside of your
control, then you’re not responsible for that action.
This is why I’m not responsible for giving our
position away to Freddie Krueger. I sneezed, my
allergies caused the sneeze, and I can’t control
whether or not I have allergies.
THE CAUSAL PRINCIPLE
• The Causal Principle: Every event has a cause.
THE CAUSAL PRINCIPLE
• The Causal Principle: Every event has a cause.
Evidence for this is everywhere. Just watch stuff
happening. Indeed, science is premised on the
idea that everything has a cause.
TRANSITIVITY
• Those of you who paid attention in math class: what does ‘transitivity’ mean?
TRANSITIVITY
• Those of you who paid attention in math class: what does ‘transitivity’ mean?
• A relation R is transitive if and only if, given that A bears R to B, and B bears R to C, then A bears R to C.
TRANSITIVITY
• Those of you who paid attention in math class: what does ‘transitivity’ mean?
• A relation R is transitive if and only if, given that A bears R to B, and B bears R to C, then A bears R to C.
• The relation “greater than” is transitive. Given that 4>3, and 3>2, it follows that 4>2.
TRANSITIVITY
• Those of you who paid attention in math class: what does ‘transitivity’ mean?
• A relation R is transitive if and only if, given that A bears R to B, and B bears R to C, then A bears R to C.
• The relation “greater than” is transitive. Given that 4>3, and 3>2, it follows that 4>2.
• The relation “equals” is also transitive. Given that (2+2)=4, and 4=(9-5), it follows that (2+2)=(9-5).
TRANSITIVITY
• Those of you who paid attention in math class: what does ‘transitivity’ mean?
• A relation R is transitive if and only if, given that A bears R to B, and B bears R to C, then A bears R to C.
• The relation “greater than” is transitive. Given that 4>3, and 3>2, it follows that 4>2.
• The relation “equals” is also transitive. Given that (2+2)=4, and 4=(9-5), it follows that (2+2)=(9-5).
• The relation “brother of” is transitive. Nick is brother of Alex, and Alex is brother of Zack, so Nick is
brother of Zack.
TRANSITIVITY
• Those of you who paid attention in math class: what does ‘transitivity’ mean?
• A relation R is transitive if and only if, given that A bears R to B, and B bears R to C, then A bears R to C.
• The relation “greater than” is transitive. Given that 4>3, and 3>2, it follows that 4>2.
• The relation “equals” is also transitive. Given that (2+2)=4, and 4=(9-5), it follows that (2+2)=(9-5).
• The relation “brother of” is transitive. Nick is brother of Alex, and Alex is brother of Zack, so Nick is
brother of Zack.
• But the relation “father of” is NOT transitive. Gerald is the father of Nick, and Nick is the father of
Ethan, but Gerald is not the father of Ethan.
TRANSITIVITY
• Those of you who paid attention in math class: what does ‘transitivity’ mean?
• A relation R is transitive if and only if, given that A bears R to B, and B bears R to C, then A bears R to C.
• The relation “greater than” is transitive. Given that 4>3, and 3>2, it follows that 4>2.
• The relation “equals” is also transitive. Given that (2+2)=4, and 4=(9-5), it follows that (2+2)=(9-5).
• The relation “brother of” is transitive. Nick is brother of Alex, and Alex is brother of Zack, so Nick is
brother of Zack.
• But the relation “father of” is NOT transitive. Gerald is the father of Nick, and Nick is the father of
Ethan, but Gerald is not the father of Ethan.
• Question for you: are causal relations transitive?
TRANSITIVITY
• Those of you who paid attention in math class: what does ‘transitivity’ mean?
• A relation R is transitive if and only if, given that A bears R to B, and B bears R to C, then A bears R to C.
• The relation “greater than” is transitive. Given that 4>3, and 3>2, it follows that 4>2.
• The relation “equals” is also transitive. Given that (2+2)=4, and 4=(9-5), it follows that (2+2)=(9-5).
• The relation “brother of” is transitive. Nick is brother of Alex, and Alex is brother of Zack, so Nick is
brother of Zack.
• But the relation “father of” is NOT transitive. Gerald is the father of Nick, and Nick is the father of
Ethan, but Gerald is not the father of Ethan.
• Question for you: are causal relations transitive?
• Yes, they are.
TRANSITIVITY PRINCIPLE
• The Transitivity Principle: if A causes B, and B
causes C, then A causes C.
TRANSITIVITY PRINCIPLE
• The Transitivity Principle: if A causes B, and B
causes C, then A causes C.
Let’s say that the car on the left hit the car on in
the middle, which caused it to hit the car on the
right. It makes sense to say that the car on the left
caused both accidents.
THE TEMPORAL ORDERING PRINCIPLE
• The Temporal Ordering Principle: Causes come
before effects.
THE TEMPORAL ORDERING PRINCIPLE
• The Temporal Ordering Principle: Causes come
before effects.
So if A causes B, then A comes before B.
THE TEMPORAL ORDERING PRINCIPLE
• The Temporal Ordering Principle: Causes come
before effects.
So if A causes B, then A comes before B.
(Yeah yeah, I know about weird quantum mechanical stuff in which causes
and effects are simultaneous. But in the macro world they’re not, and
quantum mechanics isn’t going to be relevant here.)
LET’S GET STARTED
• It’s time to get the argument started. I’m going to illustrate it with a picture. But before we do that, we
should be clear that it’s only intentional actions that someone could even plausibly be responsible for.
So the only actions that we’re going to be concerned with are those that people decide to do. If it turns
out that we’re not responsible for those actions, it will mean that we’re not responsible for any actions.
SUMMARY
• Event E* caused person P to do action A.
SUMMARY
• Event E* caused person P to do action A.
• Event E* happened before P was born, so P couldn’t possibly have any control over it.
SUMMARY
• Event E* caused person P to do action A.
• Event E* happened before P was born, so P couldn’t possibly have any control over it.
• So P isn’t responsible for the action that it causes (namely, A).
SUMMARY
• Event E* caused person P to do action A.
• Event E* happened before P was born, so P couldn’t possibly have any control over it.
• So P isn’t responsible for the action that it causes (namely, A).
• No assumptions were made about P or A, so the result generalizes: no one is morally responsible for
anything that they do.