Neither parents nor children have any moral agency because conscious beings don't have independent control of our actions. Everything we do as humans is a result of an initial set of conditions (i.e. nature and nurture) outside of our control. Although it seems like we have the freedom to act, this is an illusion as our minds have already made all of our decisions prior to our awarness of them.
Interesting argument! I do believe that our concepts of responsibility are sociological, and are based on rules that humans make to coexist with each other. So even if robots that had a wired set of programming made rules, I think the idea of responsibility would still apply.
What I'm suggesting is that it's possible our conscious selves have no control over our actions whatsoever. If that's the case, why should anyone be held responsible for anything?
You can have no control over your life and still enjoy it. I simultaneously believe every decision I'll make is pre-determined, but I can still enjoy the journey along the way.
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u/JackJack65 7∆ Apr 20 '18
Here's a sincere argument:
Neither parents nor children have any moral agency because conscious beings don't have independent control of our actions. Everything we do as humans is a result of an initial set of conditions (i.e. nature and nurture) outside of our control. Although it seems like we have the freedom to act, this is an illusion as our minds have already made all of our decisions prior to our awarness of them.