Can responsibility exist if the world is deterministic?

[SWPIGWANG]

Can responsibility exist if the world is deterministic?


That is the question....

[Darth Wong]

Why wouldn't it?

If you murder someone, you did it. That makes you responsible for it by definition. Irrelevant hand-waving over "free will" is nothing more than a flatulent waste of time.

[SWPIGWANG]

So what is responsibility anyway? (yes I'm a immature idiot)

Afterall, we don't claim a bullet from being responsible for killing someone.... (or do we)

[God Emperor]

Afterall, we don't claim a bullet from being responsible for killing someone.... (or do we)

No we don't blame them we blame the company that made them.

[Darth Wong]

So what is responsibility anyway? (yes I'm an immature idiot)

According to Merriam-Webster:

1 a : liable to be called on to answer b (1) : liable to be called to account as the primary cause, motive, or agent <a committee responsible for the job> (2) : being the cause or explanation <mechanical defects were responsible for the accident> c : liable to legal review or in case of fault to penalties

Obviously, if you murder someone, you are the primary cause, motive, or agent of that murder. It is irrelevant what motivated you to do it, unless it falls into specifically delineated categories of justification, eg- self defense.

Afterall, we don't claim a bullet from being responsible for killing someone.... (or do we)

Sure we do. A bullet passing through someone's brain is responsible for his death, just as gravity is responsible for a jumper's death. But the purpose of crime and punishment is deterrent, and it is therefore pointless on non-sentients. Crime and punishment must be applied to the person who caused that bullet to fly through somebody's head, since he is sentient and his example will serve as a warning to others.