Strawson Resentment Definition
Essay on Strawson’s Freedom and Resentment
Strawson claims that even were determinism known to be true, it would not affect our moral psychology. Why does he think that objecting that this does not rationally justify our moral practices misses the point, and is he right? In P.F. Strawsons essay Freedom and Resentment, he argues that the truth or falsity of the determinist thesis would have no effect on our moral psychology and therefore the common worry that determinism undermines ordinary moral concepts and practices is unwarranted (Strawson, 2003). In addressing the objection that this still does not justify our moral concepts and practices, he says that this misses the point since our moral concepts and practices are intrinsic to our psychology, which is unaffected by determinism. This essay will attempt to argue that Strawson fails to address key issues about his moral psychology which could strengthen the stance of the objector, and that his dismissal of the objection is therefore not fully qualified. The structure of the essay will be as follows: the first section will explain the pessimist worry over the determinist …show more content…
He assigns the label pessimist to a person who believes that determinism threatens ordinary moral concepts and practices, and the label optimist to a person who does not. The pessimists claim is that the determinist thesis implies that humans lack freedom and therefore those moral concepts and practices which are assumed to be justified by human freedom are rendered unjust by the truth of determinism for example, it is normally assumed that it is only just to punish a person for a moral transgression if they were not forced to transgress by previous events, so determinism, which assumes that all human actions are determined by prior events, would make all punishment unjust on this
Strawson claims that even were determinism known to be true, it would not affect our moral psychology. Why does he think that objecting that this does not rationally justify our moral practices misses the point, and is he right? In P.F. Strawsons essay Freedom and Resentment, he argues that the truth or falsity of the determinist thesis would have no effect on our moral psychology and therefore the common worry that determinism undermines ordinary moral concepts and practices is unwarranted (Strawson, 2003). In addressing the objection that this still does not justify our moral concepts and practices, he says that this misses the point since our moral concepts and practices are intrinsic to our psychology, which is unaffected by determinism. This essay will attempt to argue that Strawson fails to address key issues about his moral psychology which could strengthen the stance of the objector, and that his dismissal of the objection is therefore not fully qualified. The structure of the essay will be as follows: the first section will explain the pessimist worry over the determinist …show more content…
He assigns the label pessimist to a person who believes that determinism threatens ordinary moral concepts and practices, and the label optimist to a person who does not. The pessimists claim is that the determinist thesis implies that humans lack freedom and therefore those moral concepts and practices which are assumed to be justified by human freedom are rendered unjust by the truth of determinism for example, it is normally assumed that it is only just to punish a person for a moral transgression if they were not forced to transgress by previous events, so determinism, which assumes that all human actions are determined by prior events, would make all punishment unjust on this