On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 12:37 AM, Brent Meeker<meekerdb.domain.name.hidden> wrote:
>
> Rex Allen wrote:
>> In this case, I am not responsible (common usage) for the fortune or
>> misfortune that has befallen those who I have stumbled into as a
>> result of the universe's constant pushiness.
>>
>> I AM responsible if we use Dennett's non-standard definition of
>> "responsible", however.
>
> No you are not, because none of the above hypothetical events were
> caused by who you are, your brains and experience and values. There
> would be no point in rewarding or punishing you for those actions
> because they are not instances of *your* behavior - unless you try to
> make yourself very big.
So if you want to redefine responsibility in terms of the utilitarian
applicability of positive and negative reinforcement with the goal of
producing socially optimal behavior, that's fine with me. But that's
not the common usage. And I think it would be better to abandon the
term "responsibility" and go with something less entangled with
antediluvian notions of libertarian free will...which is basically
consistent with the common usage.
And again, my question stands with respect to why you introduced that
quote into this thread.
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Received on Tue Sep 01 2009 - 01:38:40 PDT