Moral Responsibility and the Scientific Image of the World

Abstract

This paper deals with the discussions concerning the relationship between determinism and free will (i.e. the Problem of Compatibility), and correspondingly, with the implications for moral responsibility. It approaches the problem from the naturalistic perspective, albeit it does not answer the issue of the truth of causal determinism. For the sake of exploring the prospects for moral responsibility, the paper assumes causal determinism is scientifically warranted. Starting from the concept of causal determinism, the paper examines the challenges for the concept of free will as an ability to act otherwise, invoked by the Consequence Argument. The goal is to demonstrate that requirements for the ordinary moral responsibility conception are weaker than freedom as the ability to act otherwise. On these grounds, it is concluded that moral responsibility and causal determinism are compatible.