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Perplexed comments on Separate morality from free will - Less Wrong
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Comments (84)
Maybe you are right that I'm not reading carefully enough. You called the word 'morality' useless if it were taken to have a particular meaning. I responded that the meaning in question is not useless. Yes, I see the distinction, but I don't see how that distinction matters.
No I don't. Free will means entirely too many different things to too many different people. I usually fail to understand what other people mean by it. So I find it best to simply "taboo" the phrase. Or, if written in a sentence of text, I simply ignore the sentence as probably meaningless.
I'm objecting to the view that morality requires free will. I'm not as interested in taking a stand on how people learn morality, or whether there is such a thing as objective morality, or whether it's just a social consensus, except that I would like to use terms so that it's still possible to think about these issues.
Kant's view at best confounds the problem of choosing values, and the problem of free will. At worst, it makes the problem of values impossible to think about, whether or not you believe in free will. (Perversely, focusing on whether or not your actions are pleasing to God obliterates your ability to make moral judgements.)
I think you are missing the point regarding Kant's mention of free will here. You need to consider Kant's explanation of why it is acceptable to enslave or kill animals, but unacceptable to enslave or kill human beings. Hint: it has nothing to do with 'consciousness'.
His reason for excluding the possibility that entities without free will are moral agents was not simply to avoid having to participate in discussions regarding whether a bowling ball has behaved morally. Limiting morality to entities with free will has consequences in Kant's philosophy.
Edit: minor change in wording.