1. IDS 108-08 Reasoning about reasoning October 17, 2008

2. Experiments Discussed so Far 1.Classification Task 2.Morality and DisgustMorality and Disgust 3.Basketball Gorilla 4.Disappearing Objects 5.Weird Movie

3. Intentions Joshua Knobe invented these scenarios: –(A) The chairman of a company is asked to approve a new program that will increase profits and also help the environment: “I don’t care at all about helping the environment,” the chairman replies. “I just want to make as much profit as I can. Let’s start the new program.” So the program is launched and the environment is helped. –(B) Identical to (A) but this time the program will harm the environment. Once again, the chairman is indifferent to the environment and the program is launched in order to increase profits, with the expected results.

4. Results 23% of respondents said the chairman “helped the environment intentionally” in scenario (A). 82% of respondents said the chairman “harmed the environment intentionally” in scenario (B).

5. Discussion Listen to Joshua Knobe discuss his experiment.discuss What might happen if you present the scenarios differently? What about the following complicated situation? –Company A decides to not spend US$ 300 million on a project to increase the safety of their vehicles even after a study concludes that this project would have saved, on average, 100 lives/year. –Company B does not even conduct such a study, and does not increase the safety of its vehicles.

6. Compatibilism Determinism: everything that happens could not have been otherwise, given what has happened before. Problem: If the universe is deterministic, how can we hold people morally responsible for what they do? Incompatibilists: You can’t. –Two different flavors: hard-core determinists and libertarians. Compatibilists: You can.

7. Preliminary Discussion Listen to Joshua Knobe discuss determinism and free will.discuss What do you think? Is the universe we live in deterministic? Imagine that, at the moment of creating a universe, its creator knew already everything that would happen, and knew that things couldn’t be otherwise. Would people in that universe be morally responsible for what they do? Would the creator of that universe be morally responsible for what people in that universe do?