[lbo-talk] Framed (Was Everything's coming up roses)

[Luke Weiger]

Jim quoted:
> "The natural function of praise, blame, retaliation, reward and
> other morality-invoking emotions and responses, what philosopher
> Peter Strawson in his classic paper "Freedom and Resentment"
> dubbed "reactive attitudes," is not difficult to discern: it is to shape
> behavior in ways advantageous to both individuals and societies.
> Retaliation against an aggressor that has harmed oneself or one’s
> loved ones undoubtedly serves to deter or thwart the aggression,
> so the disposition to retaliate embodied in retributive emotions
> such as resentment and rage is an essential characteristic of
> creatures who make the evolutionary cut. But equally, the disposition
> not to harm those who have done us no harm is just as important,
> since the advantages of punishment only accrue if it is selectively
> applied. Thus the strong intuition of fairness which says, in essence,
> "don’t ever punish the innocent" can be seen as on a par with other
> reactive, morality-invoking attitudes, something deeply built into us
> by virtue of its natural utility in helping to distribute retaliatory
> harms,
> so that punishment is vigorously applied to deter aggressors and
> defectors and vigorously withheld in order to build affinity and
> cooperation. And on the positive end, we are built to respond
> with praise and other rewards to behavior we want reinforced.
> Thus the direction and depth of our reactive attitudes and moral
> responses track the type of behavior we are responding to, and
> help encourage or discourage it, depending on our interests.6"

Yes.  You can find something like this in Hume and many, many others who
defend  compatibilist rationales for moral responsibility, deserts, and
retribution.  The interesting feature of these arguments, and precisely the
one your friend has identified, is that the accounts seem to be driven by
purely consequentialist considerations, and are thus just as open to one who
denies the existence of freedom (in the metaphysical sense).

-- Luke