PHIL 347 Exam 2 Questions With 100% Verified Answers

PHIL 347 Exam 2 Questions With 100% Verified Answers The Naive View Having a mental disorder itself implies something about one's freedom and moral responsibility The Nuanced View There is no general relationship between moral responsibility and psychopathology Moral Responsibility The philosophical term of art used to describe when it is appropriate to hold someone accountable for something morally significant that they've done Usually, this is tied to blaming someone when they do something wrong or bad and praising someone when they do something right or good Typically, we must assume that a person is morally responsible if punishing them is to be justified M'Naughten Rule (1843) A person should be considered "insane" in the legal context if it can be clearly proved that, at the time of committing the act, the person's mental disorder caused them to not know what they were doing or, if they did know what they were doing, to not know that what they were doing was wrong. Why hold the naive view? (reason 1) Mental disorders are pathological, so actions influenced by them are also pathological and disordered. We shouldn't be held responsible for such actions. May's response: not all actions resulting from pathological conditions are completely beyond a person's control Why hold the naive view? (reason 2) We cannot be responsible for actions resulting from psychiatric disorders because we are not ultimately responsible for acquiring the disorder in the first place. May's response: this view overgeneralizes to ordinary actions that have nothing to do with mental disorder -- it would result in no one being responsible for anything Why hold the naive view? (reason 3) Mental disorders involve irresistible impulses, delusions, etc., that prevent proper control over one's conduct May's response: this is the strongest reason to favor the naive view. Whether it succeeds hinges on whether all mental disorders genuinely impair a person's agency Implication of the nuanced view We ought to evaluate responsibility on a case-by-case basis, not based on categories of mental disorders Why favor the nuanced view? (reason 1) Symptoms associated with mental disorders can actually increase a persons agency or responsibility Why favor the nuanced view? (reason 2) Although symptoms of mental disorders can diminish agency, they only do in some contexts and do so in varying degrees Numerical Identity