FREE WILL AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY Flashcards
1
Q
Describe determinists
A
Those who maintain that all human actions are effects caused by prior influences
2
Q
Describe compatibilists
A
Those who maintain that some human actions are determined but that we still have moral responsibility
3
Q
Describe libertarians
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Those who maintain that we are free to act, and that we are morally responsible for those actions
4
Q
Define free will and give Hume’s definition
A
To be able to choose, without obstacle, alternative possibility and put these choices into action
Hume: ‘a power of acting or of not acting according to the determination of the will’
5
Q
Describe Kant’s views on free will
A
He said morality couldn’t exist without the freedom of the will therefore it is a necessary postulate of moralityr
6
Q
Describe Aristotle’s views on free will
A
Made the point that you can be praised our blamed for voluntary actions
7
Q
Describe ideas about robots and free will and how this relates to human free will
A
- Machines aren’t conscious beings - they can make errors but this is not the fault of the machine but rather the fault of the conscious being who programmed the machine.
- Some philosophers argue that we are just more complex machines. Ancient Greek philosophers also contemplated the extent to which we are truly free - some argued that ww think we are free but it is just an illusion
- ## We don’t say animals are free - in reality we are no more free than animals even though we view ourselves as something capable of free rational thought and therefore as subjects of moral repsonsibilty - however this is in error and were are no ore free than the lion is. what we do is predetermined, unlike other creatures we are partly aware of thoughts but we don’t instigate/control them so we aren’t free either
8
Q
Free will: Explain what constitutes moral resppnsibility
A
- To be morally responsible, people just act through their own free will - it needs to be shown that the people concerned are in fact able to make that choice. We must exclude the possibility of other factors interfering, eg brainwashing
- By comparison with freely-acting people, machines are incapable of independent thought so cannot be blamed
- blame lies with the conscious agent rather than the unconscious machine - acts ofnmurder aren’t carried out by the instruments but rather the people
- For moral responsibility we therefore need a free human agent - in som situations upbringing/psychilogical makeup might suggest they actually have no control over their choices/actions
- in addition the human agent needs to be conscious and capable of making the decision
9
Q
How do we know the difference between right and wrong: describe the factors which define moral responsibiloty
A
For one not too be held morally responsible, they must:
- not have been able to help doing it
- not be aware it was wrong
10
Q
How do we know the difference between right and wrong: Sources of moral awareness- describe the idea that awe all have an innate moral sense
A
- This is the base of Hume’s approach to morality and suggests that we all have a built in moral sense
- Philosphers argue that conscience is an innate faculty of this kind
- Hume argues that humans have an innate ability to understand morality - a faculty of sympathy
- to some extent it can be argued that the faculty of sympathy is universal: we all feel bad for people who suffer
11
Q
How do we know the difference between right and wrong: Sources of moral awareness- Describe the idea that we learn about right/wrong from our social context
A
- We learn moral values from our parents/society and these moral [rinciples form the basis of our social life
- in this case we see that morality is linked to particular cultural and social traditions - some argie that this is a problem of multiculturalism, actions seen as wrong by others are seen as right by others
- Here the fundamental question is concerning whether moral principles and the practices that result that are understood by one culture should be understood by all
- overall morality is culturally conditioned ad therefore varies from societies and over time - there appears to be some moral relativism
12
Q
How do we know the difference between right and wrong: Sources of moral awareness- describe ideas about religious morality
A
- Each religion presents sets of fundamental moral princi[;es and sets of practical moral rules which serve top define the way of life of that particular group
- some religions define societal practices in a way that the religion ‘embodies’ its own culture, whereas others resent moral principles which are adaptive to a variety of cultures
- for the religious person, knowledge of morality is encountered at 3 levels: innate, social, religious
13
Q
Epicurus and Reductionism: Describe Epicurus and his philosophy/views about free will
A
Epicurean philosophy argues that philosophy can;shoudl lead people to happy lives, free fro pain/pleasure
- For Epicurus the world was entirely physical, and any event was therefore theoretically predictable given its circumstances and the natural forces involced
- people are therefore not free and are at the mercy of external forces over which they exercise no control
- Epicurus believed in a happy life, but not free will. He noticed that observation and science tend towards determinism, personal and moral experiences tend towards free will
14
Q
Epicurus and Reductionism: Describe the different types of determinism
A
Determinism = All events including human choices/actions are the necessary consequence of antecedent evens
Causal determinism = used synonymously with determinism
Hard determinism = because determinism is true bnobody has ant free will at all and we are fully determined by antecedent physical causes
15
Q
Describe Hard Determinism
A
- Based on the concept of universal causation - every event in the universe has a cause, not just physical events but mental ones like thoights. All events are causally determined and theoretically predictable
- the network of causes/conditions that exist at any one moment is held to be sufficient to determine everything that will hasppenninthe future
- science tells us that fr every physical event there is a physical cause, and this causal chain can be traced back to the moment of the big bang. if we consider the mind to be material activity in the brain, i.e chemical impulses, then our thoughts and deciisons are also predetemined
- Hard determinism also governs ethical choices - ethical choices don’t exist as our moral decisions are as determined as anything else
- We many think that owe are free to choose what to do but such freedom is merely an illusion created by the very complex processes that go on in the human brain
- since freedom is an illusion we are not logically justified in claiming responsibility for our action
16
Q
Describe reductionism
A
- Sometimes backs up determinism. This is the view that to understand a complex entity one should analyse/reduce it to its smallest component
- Eg human behaviour /biology/chem/physics
- Our thoughts may be seen as no more than the electrical impulses in the brain and our actions are simply the result of chemical and electrical activity
17
Q
Describe Spinoza’s views on free will - hard determinism
A
- Rationalist, determinist - argued that the believed that there is human freedom is ignorance
- Argued that everything is totally determined by physical causes - we consider ourselves to be free as we are ignorant of all the causes operating upon us - many influences from your past contribute to what you do in the present
- The experience of freedom is an illusion generated by our ignorance of the totality of causes acting upon ud - off we could take into account everything that had ahp[ened to us/nerual pathways, we’d understand
- The limited nature of human awareness of these causes means that we experience the process by which we assess and register the infinite number of influences acting upon us as free will
- Spinoza argued that the fact we are rational and aware creatures allows us to understand the world around us -= this gives us some sort of freedom which allows us to understand nature and glimpse god
- ‘in the mind there is no absolute or free will’
18
Q
Scientific determinism: Describe universal causation
A
- The belief that all human actions and choices have a past cause, leading to the conclusion that all events that happen are determined by an unbreakable chain of past causes
19
Q
Scientific determinism: Describe scientific determinism
A
- A form of hard determinism - all events that happen are determined by antecedent events so there is no free will. Everything including the human mind is determined
- The equations in pjys9cs are deterministic, they govern everything therefor every ever in the universe is determined by physics - this ,means the future is also determined
20
Q
Scientific determinism: describe biological determinism
A
- All human traits have a physical nature and can be accounted for in a person’s DNAQ
- fi we know their genes their behaviour is predictable
- moral agents can be reduced to non more than genetic robots, programmed and determined by DNA
- an example could be depression
21
Q
Scientific determinism: Avoiding scientific determinism - how scientific determinism might also be avoided if the quantum world is indeterminate
A
- if it can be shown that there are entities that aren’t completely governed by the laws o nature, we might have reason to reject scientific determinism
- ‘standard interpretation’ - the laws governing the quantum world are indeterminate and probabilistic
- how this affects events at the macro scale is not clear, but if there is indeterminist somewhere in matter, determinism seems to be false
- at a micro level, things are uncertain so we can’t prove it at the macro level, opening the way for true free will
- most of the philosophers who reject determinism do so by locating indeterminacy in the mid, where indeterminacy at the quantum level might somehow allow for free will
- there are many speculative ideas about how this might work but fir how bit us probably best to note this possibility
22
Q
Psychological determinism: describe behavioural psychology
A
a theory arguing that all behaviours, human and animal, are learnt through conditioning - by interaction with he environment
- in Skinner’s view, the good, the bad consequences of previous actions dispose the brain to repeat/avoid such actions
23
Q
Describe Psychological determinism:
A
- a form of hard determinism
- Skinner claims all behaviour/the choices we make are a reswultnpf genetic and environmental conditions and how we have been nurtured
- all human actions are trained/condiitoned by the good/bad consequences of previous decisions. our choices are made depending on our upbringing/culture/experiences, so there can be no freedom of the will.
- if an action has good consequences, the brain becomes programmed to choose this action and if it has bad consequences humans learn not to repeat it
- there is therefore no free will and determinism is complete
- this is supported by pavlov’s dogs - an experiment which proved behaviour can be conditioned
- skinner denied the existence of the free will because of psychological determinism
24
Q
Describe Watson’s work on behaviourism
A
- father of behaviourism
- believed that human behaviour could be understood through observable actions and reactions. rejecting introspection and mentalistic explanations
little Albert experiment. - asserted that all humans are born as blank slates (tabula rasa) and that all behaviour is learnt through conditioning and experiences
- Watsons’ work emphasised the deterministic nature of behaviour
25
Describe Skinner's operant conditioning
- introduced concepts such as reinforcement and punishment,ent to explain how behaviour is shaped
- his experiments often included animal subjects
- argued that behaviour is controlled by its consequences, with reinforcement increasing the likelihood of repetition and punishment decreasing it
- Skinner rejected the concept of free will, viewing b behaviour as entirely determined by environmental contingencies
26
Describe how both Watson and Skinner's work exemplified determinism
- Proposes that human behaviour is entirely determined by external factors such as conditioning and reinforcement, rather than by free will - they emphasised the predictable nature of behaviour and the power of environmental influences in shaping individual's actions and responses
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28
Explain the difference between operant and classical conditioning
- classical conditioning involves associating an involuntary response and an unconditioned stimulus, whilst operant conditioning is about associating a voluntary behaviour and a consequence
- in operant conditioning's the learner is also rewarded with incentives whilst classical conditioning involves no such enticements
- classical conditipign is passive on the behalf of the learner whereas operant conditioningrequires the learner to actively partcipate and perform some type of action in order to be rewarded or punished
29
Describe psychological determinism
- if all behaviour is the result of genetic and environmental conditions and all human actions are conditioned by the good/bad consequences of previous decisions so we seek to avoid bad behaviour/bad consequences and repeat good with good;.
- there are no inner psychological states such as intentions/purposes, there is non free will and therefore determinism
30
Describe skinner's box
- he designed an operant chamber (skinner's box) containing a lever on the side of it and placed a rat inside - whenever the rat interacted with the lever a piece of food dropped to eat - after a while the rat learnt to wostraight top the lever to get food right away - the consequence of pressing the lever created a positive reward, encouraging them to keep pressing
- skinner was able to provide that a positive reinforcement helps to strnweghten a specific behavipural response
- this behaviourism theory helped to show that feelings, behaviours and actions are interconnected - by udnertsnading what causes a choice to be made, it becomes possible to repeat positive choices
31
Describe Chomsky's critique of Skinner's behaviourism
- dismissed it as an example;e of futile behaviourist speculation and assumption
- one particular criticism of his assumptions iOS that his application of the princip[;es off anima; behaviour to the much more complex human behaviour is unsound
- another obvious response to skinner is that if human behaviour in tis entirety is merely an set of conditioned responses determined by eugenics and the environment then his own behavioural thesis is merely an example of a conditioned response so why should we bother to listen to it
- Chomsky argued that a child's brain contained special language learning abilities at brith which enabled them to communicate - language is innate
- Chomsky criticised how skinner only uses animals as test subjects and so the theory was silent on specie restrictions
-chomsly argued that skinner's idea of reinforcement fails for a variety of reasons.
1) Many of the hevaiorusit experiments failed for internal reasons, meaning they didn't prove reinforcement,
2) Furthermore, not only, did these experiments fail with animals but Skinner is not at liberty top claim that animal behaviour represents complex human behaviour
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Theological Determinism: Describe Theological determinism
- God is omniscient and the causal chain can be traced to GOd who is the uncashed first cause
- predestination: Gos has already decided who are 'the elect' and the damned who are going to hell
- If God knows that a present ill performa an action at some point int he future, that person cannot avoid doing that action - free will must one an illusion, as all moral behaviour has already been planned and known about by God
- In its earliest form, theological determinism led Augustine and Calvin to the doctrine of predestination: an omniscient God must know the past/present/future of the universe ad of humanity. Calvin concluded that GOd's omniscience means that 'some are eternally ordained to glory, through the sheer will of GOd,. and the rest are ordained to eternal torment'
- calvin is therefore committed to the view that humans are not free - their actions are part of god's will
- adam and eve were free, but their 'falll' was also part of god's plan
- the fall destroyed human free will, and because of this humans are unable to achieve salvation trhoguh their own merits
33
Theological determinism: Describe concupiscence
- Augistone's doctrine of original sin starts by arguing that the outcome of 'original sin' is that sin became a major defect of the human character
- tis as one of the outcomes of committing the original sin, which tainted Adam and Eve's original perfect nature. Augustine called this defect 'concupiscence' which is a latin term meaning 'longing'
- According to Augustine this is passed on to all people because all humanity is related to A+E and all humanity is born from sex which is a result of this concupiscence
34
Theological Determinism: describe Calvin's beliefs
- Human beings are not free - their actions are part of GOd's will. Adam and Eve were free but their 'fall' was also part of God's plan. The 'fall' destroyed human will and because of this humans are unable to achieve salvation through their own merits
- The 'elect' are those chosen by GOd's grace to be freed of sin and to earn salvation
35
Theological Determinism: What is the problem with Calvin's view?
- A more reasonable option for Good would have been to not create humanity in the first place.
- free will would be an illusion and god would be responsible for every good/bad event
36
Theological Determinism: describe Aquinas' idea of a timeless god
- God doesn't exist in time and is rather timeless. HE sees everything in history and the future timelessly.
Some argue therefore that god's omniscience means he sees the results of our future free choices but doesn't cause them, meaning he has the power to intervene and control but just doesn't - instead permitting human free choices.
37
Theological Determinism: describe the idea of a temporal god
- The alternative view is that God exists in time - if that is the case, then god cannot know the future so theological determinism is false. christian process theologians see god and the universe as tow aspects of one reality
- god is equivalent with all the physical processes of the universe. in the physical universe, the future has not yet happened - a temporal gode would not know the future so wouldn't be a threat to human free will
38
Theological Determinism: describe a christian response to theological determinism.
- they find it philosophically challenging and morally troubling
- it seems to undermine freedom and responsibility
- Aquinas; perspective: God's omniscience doesn't cause events to happen but rather stems from his timeless knwoledge
- human actions are free and god's knowledge of them reflects his understanding
39
What is circumstantial freedom?
- The freedom to perform an action without interference from obstacles. Eg not having the right to vote
40
What is metaphysical freedom
- the power of the self to choose among genuine alternatives meaning our actions are not in anyway determined by a prior cause.
- if we are metaphysically free, then no factors would mean our actions are determined
41
Describe Libertarianism
- the view that despite restraints from genetics and the environment,ent, human beings are free moral agents
- all forms of determinism are false
- human moral freedom is non-causal, or affected by external causes. choices are random, not pre-determined
- moral freedom is a contingent truth, meaning it cannot be proven but it is generally accepted as true - accepted on the grounds of probability
- the basic premise is that all people should be half morally responsible for their acts as they have free willl so in any moral dilemma a person who does the wrong thing always had a. choice to behave another way
- people should be punished for crimes
- free will comes from human experience and is shown when people choose between duty and their desires/self-interests
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what is a causally undetermined choice
libertarians argue for genuine free choice, which is not influenced by external factors - they believe people make decisions based on their own moral consciousness and values
43
Describe Kant and Libertarianism
- Kant koud be viewed as a libertarian as he create da deontological theory of ethics that was based on moral rules, not religion
- these were laws about what we 'ought ' to do, telling us to follow out moral duty.
- Kant argued that 'ought implies can; - knowing what we should do shows that we are morally free to choose this action
- Kant argued that the las of a country ar helpful for people being free as they help us behave rationally
- breaking the law is wrong as it limits other peoples freedoms
44
Describe Sartre's existentialism
'existence precedes essence'
- in contrast to a designed object such as a penknife, the blueprint and prupose of which pre-exist the actual physical thing
-- human beings have no pre-established purpose or nature, nor anythign that we have to or ought to be. sartre was an ardent atheist, and so believed that there couddnt be a 'divine artisan' in whose mind our essential properties had been conceived
- he did not believe in a common human nature which could be the source of morality
- for sartre, the basic given of the human predicament is that we are forced to choose what we will become and define ourselves by our choice of action
- whilst a penknife's essence is pre-defined, humans have no essence to begin with
- we therefore have freedom to choose
45
Describe compatibilism
- 'Soft determinism'
- the view that human freedom and moral responsibility are compatible with determinism
- compatibilists believe that the ideas of determinism and libertarianism, can coexist. they accept that some aspects of a life are determined, eg upbringing and genetics, which have an effect on how people see the world and make moral decisions. even if everything is caused by events, we can still ave some degree of free will where we make choices based on our own desires and intentions
- however they also believe that people have free. choice within the life that has been determined for them, so there are times when people are still deserving of punishment for their wrong actions
- hume and hobbes saw freedom as acting without being forced. internal causes come from oru wihses, eg leaving the country because we want to. external causes are when outside things force us to act - therefore compatibilists argue we have free will when we act according to our nature, rather than external pressure
- it could be argued that uk law is cxompatibilsit - it takes factors into account
- punsihemtn should be focused on rehabilitation nd reform,
- freedom isn't just about the freedom to act without constraints,but it is rather also the capacity to act in accordance with your own rational desires
46
Describe the compatibility idea of paralysis of complete freedom
- if you are completely free, you wouldn't know what you wanted. the experience of complete freedom would be like being set down in the middle of a completely featureless, flat landscape and trying to decide what way to go. the actual experience of freedom therefore requires limitations to make sense - we are never entirely free
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Compatibilism: describe Hume's beliefs about freedom
- We have liberty of sponteneity rather than the liberty of indifference
- liberty of indifference is freedom of necessity - Hume saw the libertarian view of being free from causal necessity as a delusion - he dismissed it
- liberty of spontaneity = consistent with necessity and is the ability to do what you desire - hume saw this as the true freedon
- hume believed that our actions stem from oru desires - if we choose something because we genuinely want it, even if it is influenced by past experiences, it is considered free will according to compatibilism
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Compatibilism: Describe constant conjunction
- We notice patterns in nature and expect them to occur - Hume argues that this is however not a logical necessity, as there its a chance that something different could happen - what we see in nature is a constant conjunction
- we see regularity in nature and human behaviour which shows that freedom and necessity/predictability can coexist. our actions might be determined by our desires and motives, but that is what gives us freedom. the ability to act according to our choices and preferenced dhows freedom because if our actions were totally random we would live in a world of chaos
-' the mind is carried by habit, upon the appearance of one event to expect tis usual attendant and believe it will exist'
- events are predictably connected - but compatibilism challenges this by arguing that as long as our choices alogn with our desires, they can still be considered free, despite constant conjunction
- hume is nt denying external impacts, causes and influences, but sometimes internal behavioural patterns can be broken, showing humans possess a degree of free will
49
Describe the strengths of hard/scientific determinism
- supported by science and empiricism
- we are part of the laws of nature and thus are clearly subject too causal laws
- logically easy to udnersntad
- gives a clear answer regarding the question of 'are we really free' - Darwin demonstrated that humanity developed from the evolutionary process, therefore humanity must also have a genetic formula
- the implications of the above are that humanity is not free, but rather determined by their genetic formula
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Describe the weaknesses of hard/scientific determinism
- Scientific theory could be wrong as it is based on inductive reaosnsing - whilst the conclusion is probably, it is not certain and could be viewed as unfalsifiable
- at a quantum teveel, physical behaviour is random and unpredictable - reductionism could therefore challenge determinism in this way
- Libet's experiments show that the brain has the ability to veto pre-conscious intentions and that this veto appears to be freely chosen
- Morality doest exist if we a re truly pre-determined
51
Describe the strengths of psychological determinism
- supported by science and empiricism
- not is easy to understand that we are conditioned by past experiences as we grow older, as this is why abused children find it harder to make emotional attachemnts as they grow up.
52
Describe the weaknesses of psychological determinism
- Chomsky rejects Skinner's behaviourism - animal behavioural experiments cannot be compared to the compelxity of a human brain. Skinner himself has been conditioned by past experience's o why should we believe him
- Behaviour cannot always be accurately predicted - it can be possible and probable, but not necessarily true
53
Describe the strengths of theological determinism
- gives a clear answer to the question of are we really free
- uses logic to suggest a conclusion - a priori
- supports fideism therefore applicable to religious people
54
Describe the weaknesses of theological determinism
- Makes god out to be an immoral monster, making religious faith pointless
- what is the point of heaven rewards/hellish punishments if everything is determined
- takes away the value of following religious deontological rules - you cannot earn your salvation through faith/behaviour
- Aquinas: God is outside of time so he witnesses decisions but doesn't cause them, understanding them simultaneously
55
Describe the strengths of libertarianism
- Rather than focusing not he unavoidable past like determinism, libertarians look forward at home moral agents cause things. Thery eblieee that they can rationally think about their actions and the reasons why each action comes about - positive moral outlook on lifew
56
Describe the weaknesses of libertarianism
- Determinists would say that libertarians are ignorant of 'the totality of causes upon them' (Spinoza)
- Scientific evidence can support hard determinism, but not the arguments put forward by libertarians
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Describe the weaknesses of compatibility
- Hard determinists would say that a persons' 'desires' are the product of causal forces, so are thus not truly free
- Libertarians argue that our ability to reason makes us free
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The relevance of moral responsibility to reward and punishment: Describe the idea that crime is a mental condition
- There are determining factors in why a person may commit a crime
- this individual might have been brought up in a. bad environment/lack of education
- Treatment should be therapeutic, aimed at helping the criminal, rather than retributive
- harsh punishment is inappropriate as the criminal is the sum of the failures of ht eparents/society
59
Describe the two broad approaches to crime
1) mental condition
2)celebrate antisocial behaviour which should be punished
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Describe compatibility ideas about reward and punishment
- Compatibilists see themselves as morally responsible/accountable for crime because
1) their moral choices aren't the results of physical restraints
2) they wanted/desired to act as they did despite being aware of alternative actions
- Hume argues that punishment should be reformative and encourage virtuous behaviour. There is no ppoij t in eternal punishment, but the goal is to increase the general well-being of society. Therapeutic punishment is reformative and should be the focus rather than retribution
61
Evaluate the compatibilist view of reward and punishment
- If punishments focus on reform and are lenient, punishemnt may lose purpose and meaning
- compatibilism is incoherent: Hume himself admits that causal determinism is true, giving weight to the hard determinist standpoint. Determinists criticises Hume's idea of constant conjunction and 'necessity' as they believe that cause and effect = fact
- libertarians however believe Hume;s argument holds no weight as human will is not determined in anyway and human consciousness is free of natural causation. Human reason is what makes a moral agent free
62
Describe libertarianism idea of reward and punishment
- the libertarian must hold people resonsible for their actions eg priase and blame/reward and punishemnt are part of this. to see people as the product of social/genetic forces in the determinsit way is to treat them as undignified objects, as subjects for experiments in environmental engineering along the lines suggested by skinner
- the law in the UK acknowledges diminshed responsibility for various reasons - otherwise, the law punishes those who are guilty of a crime because they could have done otherwise. their behaviour was free, and not wholly determined by mental, social or envirnomental circumstances
- kant insisted 'ought implies can' - kant believed that of we feel we shoudl do something, it implies that we are capable of doing it, hich supports the idea of freedom - oru ability to choose differently also shows this.
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give the hard determinist view of reward and punishment
- no freedom therefore no moral responsibility - all acts fo crime are like other acts = the result of antecedent events. it would be pointless punishing those who commit creime or rewarding those who don't as all such events are determined
- in a religious sense, the idea of sin is reduntant by if humans act against god they couldnt have avoided doing so because god predetermined their actiosn - sin is therefore not a human choice. this perspective is therefore a WEAKNESS as it undermines the idea of jesus sacrificing himself for humanity's sins as it suggests those sins were inevitable anyway. similarly, the concept of heaven and hell as places of reward/punishment in the afterlife then become problematic as it implies [people are judged for actions they couldn't control
- skinner believed his work would leadd to a reform of all the practices of praise and blame/reward and punishment - punishing people for bad behaviour is ineffective, as once the punishment is over, they will eventually go back to their crininal behaviour. punishment also makes people resentful and aggressive.
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