Topics Freedom

Question If, through free will, we take only those actions that we choose to take (barring physical enforcement or life/death situations), then where does the concept of 'external influence' fit in, and are we not then ultimately accountable for all the decisions we make in life, even self-destructive ones (the battered wife, the addict, the gangbanger teenager, etc.)?

Accepted:
October 9, 2005

Comments

I don't see how the conclusion follows. Coercion is an obvious counter-example. If someone holds a gun to your head and so coerces you, say, to make crank phone calls, I don't see that you should be held "ultimately accountable" for upsetting the recipients. And coercion hardly has to be "life or death" or even physical. But once you've allowed that much, then it's easy enough to see how external influences might have an effect. In very simple terms, what coercion does is change the costs and benefits of different actions. It seems obvious that external influence, such as addiction, can do the same thing. (I'm really not sure what you have in mind vis-a-vis battered wives. But how can we toss that in when we're supposed to be waiving physical coercion?)