The Consequences Of Determinism
| Philosophy : Philosophy Articles The consequences of holding deterministic views are controversial and the subject of much argument. One consequence many point to is the "dimished responsibility" that determism seems to place on our actions. Broadly, should we really be punished if we are simply forced to react as we do to the extremely complex causes of our actions? The key idea is that punishing people for actions which are fully caused (and therefore the person had no power to act otherwise) is not "fair" because it is not logically consistent. However, many would come back and point out that there is still a good argument for punishment, in that one of the inputs into how we react to a situation (the causes) will be our knowledge of punishment if we do something bad or unpleasant. This key additional input may change our response to a situation. Therefore punishment can remain an effective deterrent.
 Questions about determinism:
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