Moral Responsibility Is Morally Wrong

摘要

The moral responsibility system is an atavistic holdover from an earlier era. Given our greater knowledge of human behavior, coupled with rejection of "explanations" based on miraculous powers, the moral responsibility system has long been obsolete. It fuels harsh retributivism and populist punitivism, undermines rather than protects human rights, promotes destructive shaming, grossly distorts our understanding of free will, blocks deeper inquiry into the causes of both positive and negative behavior, comforts the privileged, afflicts the poor, and impedes the development of a superior system.