Moral Agency

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Brigham Young University, Idaho *

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MISC

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Philosophy

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Apr 3, 2024

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Moral Agency Outcomes  Define determinism and identify examples in modern psychology.  Articulate the implications of determinism for moral accountability.  Identify three useful metaphors for thinking about agency and science.  Identify three misconceptions about moral agency. Readings  Thayne, J. (Unpublished manuscript). “ Foundation #2: Our Lives are Full of Possibility and Meaning .”  Misconceptions about Agency Terms to remember  Determinism, indeterminism, agency  Moral accountability, moral relativism Class Preparation and Notes Please submit your preparation notes the evening before class. (Be sure to save your document before uploading – common mistake!) 1. What is determinism ? What are some examples of determinism in psychology today? In the reading it is said that there are many psychological theories that assume that our actions are determined by external or internal forces, in which they called it as the determinism. It is said that the determinism assumes that given the same initial conditions, all events must happen as they do. In this case, human action is simply part of a complicated chain of cause and effect that they said that we are living out a complicated programming of both nurture and nature. Like for example, a determinist could argue that a person's genes make them anxious. In this case, determinist find the way they opted to treat moral responsiveness as something to be explained entirely in terms of antecedent variables. If similar people behave differently in response to the same social cues, we can only presume that it is because of the causal influence of some as-yet unmeasured variable or set of variables. Is it possible to be morally accountable in a deterministic universe? Why or why not? I think it is not possible to be morally accountable in a deterministic universe, or maybe it could be at some point. However, in the reading, it is said that the moral accountability requires possibility. Like for example is when a boulder falls down the mountain, we do not thank the boulder for missing a hiker, nor we not blame the boulder for hitting one instead. In this case, it is said that it is the same in human beings in a deterministic world. That us human beings will only be accountable for our actions when we could have done otherwise. In the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is said that without the moral accountability it will be reduced to pointlessness. In addition to that is that there can be no divine law without moral accountability. There can be no judgment, no justice, no mercy, and no Atonement. In fact, there can be no God at all, for the existence of a God. As example as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that they imply the existence of a moral sovereign to whom we, as agents, are morally accountable (Alma 42:17-22). The

fall and redemption of God’s children cannot be understood from the perspective of absolute determinism. 2. What are three different metaphors we can use to understand how to think about agency, while also acknowledging the role that our environment, physiology, and experiences play in shaping our behavior?  Metaphor #1 The subplot of a novel In the reading it is said that given the main plot of a novel, there are some subplots that would be quite sensible. There are other subplots that would be nonsensical. In addition to that, if we do change the main plot of the story, then we inevitably change the subplots too. In the same way as how this goes, if we change our childhood experiences, genes, and social environment, our actions and choices will probably change too. But just as the main plot does not compel the subplot of a story, none of these things compel our choices and actions. There are multiple possible subplots that could follow from any main plot, and any action we take, even if predictable and sensible.  Metaphor #2 A lunchtime conversation In this metaphor, the example that was given was that each word you speak enacts meanings and possibilities made available by the conversation thus far. The conversation’s history creates and constrains new possibilities for the conversation moving forward. There are some things that you might say that follows naturally from the conversation thus far, and yet other possibilities that would be foreclosed. In the same way, our current actions find meaning considering our past, our environment, and even our biology. All these things open some possibilities for the future, and foreclose other possibilities, sometimes with regular patterns that can be studied and documented. But this changing horizon of possibilities can be explored without re- sorting to causal or deterministic terminology.  Metaphor #3 A topography of a map In this case, we want to consider that a hiker was doing a survey in the terrain around him. The terrain influences the possibilities available to a hiker: Some directions are downhill, others uphill. Some areas are steep and much harder to climb. Some directions lead towards impassible ravines or steep cliffs. Others have natural paths that make walking easy. As the hiker chooses a direction, the choices available before him changes, as he now enters new terrain with new topography. In the same way, our environment, our culture, our genes, our childhood, etc., influence the topography of the terrain we are traversing, making some possibilities “easier”, others “harder”, and some impossible. But even as these alter the horizon of our choices, none of these eliminate possibility or agency. And we are no fewer moral agents, and no less morally accountable, when we tred well-trodden paths.

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