#280 Manuel Vargas: Free Will, Moral Responsibility, And Social Justice
RECORDED ON OCTOBER 29th, 2019.
Dr. Manuel Vargas is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at UC San Diego, where he teaches classes on various topics, including ethics, the history of Mexican philosophy, and whatever it is he’s thinking about with respect to agency, moral psychology, and sociality.
In this episode, we focus on free will, moral responsibility, and the legal system. We first discuss what free will is about, and how we can determine if it exists. We also consider the degree to which we should take folk intuitions about free will seriously. We talk about how we can move from knowledge about people’s blameworthiness to deciding how to punish them. We then discuss social justice, and how much weight we should attribute to the environmental conditions people live in, when judging them. Finally, we talk about the concept of history, and its importance for moral responsibility, and the role of moral luck.
Time Links:
Thinking about free will
The discoveries of scientists and philosophers vs. folk intuitions about free will
Should we take the effects of people’s beliefs seriously?
Dr. Vargas’ take on free will
Are there degrees of blameworthiness?
How do we go from blameworthiness to deciding how to punish people?
Environmental conditions, social justice, and free will
The importance of history for moral responsibility
Should neuroscientists increase people’s agency, if they could?
About moral luck
Follow Dr. Vargas’ work!
Follow Dr. Vargas’ work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2q0B8is
Personal website: http://bit.ly/2NEC3P6
ResearchGate profile: http://bit.ly/2PlGT6n
PhilPapers profile: http://bit.ly/34b8ABn