WJEC/Eduqas RS for A2/Yr2: Religion and Ethics (DRAFT)

T4 Determinism and free will

human beings having free will. This was perhaps best summed up by Jirtle when he argued: ‘Epigenetic switches introduces the concept of free will into our idea of genetics.’ Moreover, the idea that a human being’s moral values are determined by social conditioning has also been dismissed by Humanist psychologists, like Rogers. Rogers makes it clear that all human beings can self-actualise and therefore achieve their full potential, including developing their own willed ideas of rightness, wrongness and moral value. Key quote … man must rely upon his own fallible will and moral insight. He cannot escape choosing. (Sartre) The value in blaming human beings for immoral acts The theory that human moral value is a fruitful concept has several implications. One such implication is that there is value in blaming human beings for immoral acts, i.e. it would seem morally fair to punish people for committing immoral acts. This is because the choice of whether to be moral or not is within an agent’s own ‘willed’ moral and thus physical control. Also, with total free will comes total responsibility. Sartre believed that even those human beings who wish not to take responsibility for their actions, are still making a free choice. This is why Sartre stated, ‘Human kind is condemned to freedom’. An idea that supports libertarian theory that there is value in blaming human beings for immoral acts can be found in the UK legal system. The criminal courts accept what is known as ‘rational choice theory’, unless there is a very specific reason not to, for example, certified mental illness. Rational choice theory is the belief that human beings are reasoning actors who freely weigh up means and ends, costs and benefits, and therefore make freely willed rational choices when committing an illegal act. Therefore, a court is right to punish such human beings when found guilty of an illegal act. For example, after the 2011 riots, in response to the death of Mark Duggan, 1566 people were punished by the British justice system. This is because it was accepted by the courts that each of these individuals acted rationally through their own free will. This can be seen from the comments by Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, when considering appeals against lengthy jail sentences for some people involved in the riots: ‘Those who deliberately participate in disturbances of this magnitude … are committing aggravated crimes’, i.e. the offenders were committing crimes that they were fully aware were wrong. Lord Judge dismissed all the appeals. Key quote Those who deliberately participate in disturbances of this magnitude … are committing aggravated crimes. (Lord Judge) The usefulness of normative ethics A further implication of libertarianism is to uphold the usefulness of normative ethics. The aim of all normative ethics is to act as a moral guide, helping a human being use their free will to manoeuvre down the path of morality and away from immorality. As libertarianism holds that human beings have free will, the usefulness of a normative ethic is clear to see. This is particularly true because a human being’s free will choice to choose the moral path may be compromised by ignorance of morality. Without a normative ethic to guide the agent’s sense of morality, they may become amoral , i.e. lacking any moral sense because they are unaware of right or wrong. Let’s consider the usefulness of two contrasting normative ethics: Divine Command Theory and Act Utilitarianism.

How does free will affect the moral value of what we choose?

DRAFT

In response to the death of Mark Duggan, 1566 people were punished by the British justice system.

Key term Amoral: lacking a moral sense therefore unable to distinguish between right and wrong

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