Thoughts on Moral Responsibility
Hi all, I've been working on an idea regarding the structure of moral responsibility and have been thinking about some cases that I'm not sure how to characterize.
My idea is that moral responsibility comes down to the notions of blame and praise. When we blame someone this is a form of rational criticism. We are criticizing the agent for not acting on what they had most reason to act on. When we praise someone we are lauding them for acting according to what they had most reason to do. So judgments about moral responsibility come down to judgments about the reasons for which an agent acted.
My worries involve two types of cases that appear to be structurally identical but that yield differing intuitions.
Example 1: We have one mother who loves and cares for her children because she wants to, she does it freely and willingly. There is also a second mother who cares for her children but not because she loves them but because she feels it is her duty. She has a strong desire to do other things but overcomes these desires and takes care of her children. It seems that we would be inclined to praise the first mother more than the second.
Example 2: Consider two former drug addicts. The first stopped using drugs because he judged that it was the wrong thing to do, he had most reason to stop using drugs and was able to quit cold turkey. The second drug addict struggles much more. He too judges that he has most reason to stop using the drug. But he has a strong desire to continue using the drug. He overcomes these desires and stops using the drug. It seems here that the second drug addict is more praiseworthy than the first.
So the cases are supposed to be structurally similar. The weird thing is that I have opposite intuitions despite this. In example 1 I am inclined to praise the mother who truly loves her kids and cares for them willingly and without struggle. In example 2 I am more inclined to praise the second addict because he has overcome the struggles of his addiction in a way that the first addict has not.
What do you guys think? Do you share these intuitions? If so, how should we account for this?
