When are we responsible for what we do, or for what we think and feel? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some connect responsibility to the will and ask whether the will is free. In any given situation, a person (or a group, a non-human animal, or a machine) either has a will that is free or does not; this is a binary distinction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Applying this distinction, we might think that some of our thoughts and actions reflect our free will, while others do not. Or we might decide that the free will is a myth, because it would be a magical exception to natural laws. Or we might think that everything we do represents our will. That is one way (but not the only way) to interpret Matthew 5:27-28: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is an alternative that avoids discussing a will at all. It is not original, but I have come to it by my own winding path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We attend<\/em> to things to greater or lesser degrees. Our attention represents more or less effort. We are morally responsible for how we allocate our effortful attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To continue the example from the Sermon on the Mount, if you happen to feel a private sexual response to someone, that is not your responsibility. Your mind is not under your control. But if you continue to think about the person in a lustful fashion, this sustained or repeated attention is your responsibility. And if you commit adultery, that reflects even more attention as well as more responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no binary here; the degree of effortful attention is a continuum. This also implies that there is no binary distinction between human persons and other creatures. I can hold my dog somewhat accountable (with appropriate allowances, and in a forgiving mode) for how he allocates his attention. When he is distracted by the sight of a passing squirrel, that just happens. But when he gives a lot of thought to stealing and ingesting a sock, that is on him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just as we can be held increasingly accountable for thoughts and actions as they consume more of our effortful attention, so we can be blamed for failing to attend to things that we should care about, such as others’ sufferings and injustices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advice that follows from this theory is familiar but, in my opinion, valid. When you have a thought or feeling that is morally wrong (aggressive, jealous, spiteful, lustful, or otherwise), let it go. Do not interpret it as a sign that something is wrong with you. That is just a way of giving unwarranted attention to the thought that happened to arise in your mind. As Gerard Manley Hopkins advises himself,<\/a> “call off thoughts awhile.” But also — don’t fan the embers. If you dwell on a bad thought, your responsibility for it will begin to rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *Believers in predestination interpret such passages differently, saying that free will is incompatible with divine omnipotence, yet we are sinful by nature. I suspect the Gospels predate such concepts entirely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n See also: people as clusters of attention<\/a>; freedom of the will or freedom from the will? (comparing Harry Frankfurt and Buddhism)<\/a>. The latter is from 2020, and I would not write the same now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When are we responsible for what we do, or for what we think and feel? Some connect responsibility to the will and ask whether the will is free. In any given situation, a person (or a group, a non-human animal, or a machine) either has a will that is free or does not; this is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,47,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism","category-contemporary-ethics","category-philosophy","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35781"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35792,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35781\/revisions\/35792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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