TY - BOOK ID - 385797 TI - Against moral responsibility PY - 2011 SN - 9780262016599 0262016591 0262298074 0262298945 1283302918 9786613302915 9780262298940 9781283302913 9780262298070 6613302910 PB - Cambridge, Mass. MIT Press DB - UniCat KW - General ethics KW - Ethics. KW - Responsibility. KW - Responsibility KW - Ethics KW - Accountability KW - Moral responsibility KW - Obligation KW - Deontology KW - Ethics, Primitive KW - Ethology KW - Moral philosophy KW - Morality KW - Morals KW - Philosophy, Moral KW - Science, Moral KW - Supererogation KW - Philosophy KW - Values KW - PHILOSOPHY/General KW - COGNITIVE SCIENCES/Psychology/Cognitive Psychology KW - SOCIAL SCIENCES/Political Science/Public Policy & Law UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:385797 AB - In Against Moral Responsibility, Bruce Waller launches a spirited attack on a system that is profoundly entrenched in our society and its institutions, deeply rooted in our emotions, and vigorously defended by philosophers from ancient times to the present. Waller argues that, despite the creative defenses of it by contemporary thinkers, moral responsibility cannot survive in our naturalistic-scientific system. The scientific understanding of human behavior and the causes that shape human character, he contends, leaves no room for moral responsibility. Waller argues that moral responsibility in all its forms—including criminal justice, distributive justice, and all claims of just deserts—is fundamentally unfair and harmful and that its abolition will be liberating and beneficial. What we really want—natural human free will, moral judgments, meaningful human relationships, creative abilities—would survive and flourish without moral responsibility. In the course of his argument, Waller examines the origins of the basic belief in moral responsibility, proposes a naturalistic understanding of free will, offers a detailed argument against moral responsibility and critiques arguments in favor of it, gives a general account of what a world without moral responsibility would look like, and examines the social and psychological aspects of abolishing moral responsibility. Waller not only mounts a vigorous, and philosophically rigorous, attack on the moral responsibility system, but also celebrates the benefits that would result from its total abolition. ER -