Chapter 2: You Are What You Do
ANALYZING HUMAN ACTIONS
● Human response is not automatic or predictable. The freedom to choose exceeds anything that may be found in the response
of animals.
● We are spontaneous and creative; can intervene in and give new direction to a course of events
● We make choices, we are agents, i.e., a person who acts freely and knowingly, who is accountable/responsible
● Freedom is the human potential/capacity to act; action is the realization of that potential
● Intentions and commitments: Intention to do homework vs. doing your homework
● Analyzing humans’ actions is important because they make us who we are. Humans build their identity through what we
think, say, and do A
Conceptual Framework For Action (CFA)
● We cannot understand actions independently from the person who does them.
● Ricoeur developed a framework to explore the human capacity to make things happen, by asking specific questions about the
action
● An action is not good in and of itself, it is only good when it fulfills certain conditions. The morality of human acts depends on:
1. The object chosen – the act/what is done
2. The end or intended result – the motive/why it’s done
3. The circumstances surrounding the action – details, i.e., who, when, where, how, etc.
Using CFA to Determine Moral Principle
The act, willed by the person (agent), can either be good (help), or evil (hurt), or indifferent. The intention, the end toward
which the object (act) aims, can either enrich or pervert the goodness of the act. The circumstances modify
(mitigate/aggravate) the act.
Moral principle: In order for an act to be considered morally good, all THREE elements (object, intent, and circumstances) must
be good. A weak link in a chain makes the entire chain defective.
EXAMPLE: You help an elderly man cross the street on a slippery, busy road because you are hoping he will reward you with
money.
● Act – helping the man = good
● Intention – hoping for reward = evil
● Circumstances – slippery, busy road = aggravating Therefore, even though the act of helping is good, and the
circumstances call you to respond, the evil intentions make the entire act evil.
Applying The CFA
WHO? The agent – an intending self, with free will; your promises/commitments and actions shape you (Ex. Intending to go to
post-secondary next year)
WHAT? The action – expressed through verbs, intentional actions
WHY? The motive – reasons to justify the act; why we intend to do something
HOW? The means – what you use to carry out the action; dialogue or fight
CIRCUMSTANCES? – affect the level of your intention or responsibility; may reduce or increase your responsibility for the action
1.
2.
Aggravating factors – increase/worsen
Mitigating factors– decrease/ lessen
WITH OR AGAINST WHOM? – every action is an interaction
OUTCOME? – intended or not, it affects the self for good or bad
Theory Of Action (Ludwig Wittgenstein)
Analytic philosophy holds that if anything has meaning it must have sensory proof to back it up -- the “hard facts” that you could
see, smell, touch, measure, hear, etc. In other words, objective.
Wittgenstein identifies the problem with analytic philosophy – free will, you can’t see free will, it is subjective. He proposes
this question:
“When I raise my arm, my arm goes up. And the problem arises: what is left if I subtract the fact that my arm goes up from the
fact that I raise my arm?”
Objective – observable, measurable; versus subjective – exists within your mind
Determinism
● Some philosophers say there is no such thing as freedom or free will – they are deterministic.
● It is the concept that events within a given paradigm are bound by causality in such a way that any state (of an object or
event) is completely determined by prior states.
● The theory that every event, including every human action, is governed by predictable laws.
● It denies the possibility of morals and ethics as we are not free to choose.
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●
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Naturalism
Religious Determinism
Social Determinism
Naturalism (aka Genetic Determinism)
● The belief that all human activity is predetermined by natural causes such as genetics and evolution. Everything is in a
predetermined cause and effect relationship.
● Based in science. Things must be proven scientifically to be true.
● Denies ethics, morality and free choice since everything humans do can be traced back to biological factors that compel the
agent to act in a particular way.
●
"Human culture is reducible to the agenda of selfish genes; Therefore, we need to rethink moral and legal concepts
such as free will, guilt, innocence and mitigating factors." (Ted Peters)
● Human Genome Project provides “the blueprint of humanity”
● Human self is not an intending self but a pre-programmed organism
● Humans and human activity are the result of the natural selection process
● Your DNA determines who you are and what you can be; promises and commitments do not come from intentions or motives
but from genetic predisposition; feelings are only neural states
● Freedom is a delusion – you can explain your actions through your genetic code
● Ex. Your tendency to procrastinate is not your fault, it’s in your genes! ● Linking human behaviour to genetic predisposition
will have huge effect on legal system
Artificial Intelligence
● Alan Turing proposed a test to determine when a machine could be considered “intelligent”
● The Turing Test – if a human uses a keyboard to have a conversation with a machine and with another human, and cannot tell
the difference, the machine would be considered intelligent ● John McCarthy coined the term “Artificial Intelligence” (AI)
● Rene Descartes distinguished a split between the mind (thinking) and the brain (physical); “I think, therefore I am”
● Thomas Huxley argued the brain was a machine and the mind was nothing more than a passive reflection of the brain’s
activity
● Naturalism is the underlying philosophy of AI – interest in the brain and its neural networks
● Strong AI – machines replicate human cognitive mental states. Weak AI – computers simulate thinking-like features Ex. SIRI
● Connection between mind and brain; development of brain linked to mental development
● Human mind is just the brain at work, actions are only products of brain activity
● Body and brain are separate from self Consider the possibility of teletransportation: A machine records the exact state of cells,
separates them, destroys body, sends info to another machine which replicates a perfect copy. Would you be the same “self”?
Religious Determinism (aka Calvinist Fatalism)
● John Calvin suggests salvation and damnation are predetermined
● Puritans believe God elects some and rejects others
● Manichaeans also deny free will
● The Catholic Church has always rejected this belief and believes that human beings are free by nature and by God’s grace. St.
Augustine (354-430 BCE) was a great theologian who wrote about free will and its connection to grace.
● Predestination denies human freedom; God has predetermined the course of the world and its history but also each action
and deed of every human
● Providence is God’s influence on events. Salvation is God’s initiative of love but this love requires human freedom to accept
and respond
Social Determinism
● Sigmund Freud focused on neurotic disorders, believing physical problems had psychological causes
● Explored the human unconscious, interpreted dreams
● You are not free because you are the product of your past, experiences, and what others have done to you
●
"The gods retain their threefold task: they must exorcize the terrors of nature, they must reconcile men to the cruelty
of Fate, particularly as it is shown in death, and they must compensate them for the sufferings and privations which a
civilized life in common has imposed on them." - Sigmund Freud.
● Behaviour is determined by outside influences, i.e., parents, culture, past experiences, race, gender, religion, education,
socio-economic status
● Human action driven by unconscious impulses based on repressed memories and desires which exert pressure on your
conscious mind; sublimation is using these memories for right action
● Instincts also exert pressure causing humans to act to reduce that tension; resulting in pleasure ○ Eros (life/love) – sexual, life,
growth, survival ○ Thanatos (death) – aggressive-destructive tendencies
● Morality is an illusion based on coercion, rules, and sanctions imposed and internalized form the superego – the internal
taskmaster that imposes feelings of guilt/shame if you do not follow the rules