Belinda wrote: ↑Mon Nov 29, 2021 1:28 pm
Atofishpi, I am so glad you like The Philosophy Book!
The Doctrine of Free Will has a bad effect on morality, as that doctrine means that an individual is always to blame for his choices. This belief has an evil effect on the administration of justice, as believing the Doctrine of Free Will makes judges punitive.
There are various views to the idea of Free Will.
What you are referring to is from the crude theistic perspective where God has given human the 'free will' to act and as such God is not to be blamed for the evil acts of humans God created, so as you stated "an individual is always to blame for his choices." In this case, it does hinder the progress of morality because what is morality is confined to God's immutable [no room for improvements] 'moral' commands.
As such you need to quality the above as The Doctrine of Free Will [theistic].
Kant relate the above as;
"A Will is purely animal (
arbitrium brutum), which cannot be Determined save through sensuous2 impulses, that is, Pathologically."
Another perspective is the philosophical view of 'free will' re morality where all humans has an inherent moral will and thus should let such a will to flow freely & spontaneously without conditions and driven towards the ideal.
For example in the case of the ideal moral of 'no killings of humans' the moral Free Will will be expressed naturally and spontaneous in contrast to being the theistic conditional free will from God and with threats of hell to go with it.
IF the ideal is not met [most likely in practice], then one will have the free will to take corrective actions to
better/improve on it continuously towards the unachievable ideal. This ensure there is constant progress in morality.
Kant relate to this as; [
mine]
"A Will which can be determined independently of sensuous impulses, and therefore through motives which are represented only by Reason [
with a focus on the ideal], is entitled Free Will (
arbitrium liberum), and everything which is bound up with this Will, whether as Ground or as Consequence, is entitled Practical [Morality]."