Free Will Ideology: Experiments, Evolution and Virtue Ethics

Free Will Ideology: Experiments, Evolution and Virtue Ethics

Ethics without Free Will

Moral theories typically rest upon the assumption that conscious deliberation plays a causal role in action; however, a growing body of scientific evidence supports a physicalist account of causation that leaves no causal role for mental activity. In response, I develop a moral theory (including moral truth, motivation, and meaning) that excludes considerations of conscious free will. I then co...

Talking Virtue: professionalism and virtue ethics

The twentieth century phenomenon of professionalism had a major impact on the economy of nation states and has been recognised as a key element of post-industrial societies. As an anointed class, professionals reserved the right to prescribe their own roles and responsibilities. Critics of professional interests, however, have described professionals’ own definition of their roles and responsib...

Doubting Free Will: Three Experiments

This moral presumption against infliction of suffering has particular relevance in the field of criminal law because, as a system of retribution, the criminal justice system is institutionally committed to the infliction of human suffering. Simply put, suffering is inflicted to make people “pay” for the crimes that they commit. Of course, the criminal justice system often has other goals as wel...

Critical Virtue Ethics

Since the publication of Anscombe’s famous paper “Modern Moral Philosophy” (1958), virtue ethics has become a matter of discussion among scholars. At least four charges have been raised against virtue ethics, one of which is the charge of promoting undue enthusiasm regarding the moral fitness of human beings. This article explores the limits of virtue ethics with regard to the frailty of human ...