How responsible are people for their actions?

[Spiderman]

There certainly is choice involved, and a person chronically desiring to commit violence against others is (sometimes) Capable of chronically restraining the impulse...but they are not at fault for having the impulse and some people are not at fault for have a will that is so weak they fail to restrain the impulse.

...saying we are ENTIRELY responsible for our actions is sometimes like saying we are responsible for our phobias, psychological makeup, or sexual orientation (though we have a responsibility to use it in a way that doesn't harm us or others)...a person doesn't choose to be homosexual, heterosexual, pedophile, sadist, pervert, or whatever fetish they have.....they either are inclined a certain way and they can give in to the impulse or suppress it.

There are people who were very responsible that become traumatized, get too much lead in their blood, get addicted to something, severely abused, have blood sugar problems, neurotransmitter deregulation, PMS, malnourishment, or head injury, and they can go from being positive, warm, patient, loving, and kind, to cold, bitter, hateful, selfish, suicidal, aggressive, bigoted violent, etc.

In the end, much of that isn't their fault...I have known women PMSing who are extremely sweet when it isn't shark week. They literally become cold, irritable, cranky, negative, and even hateful, and there is nothing they can do to choose to feel any differently or make the bitterness and anger go away. It absolutely affects their behavior and decisions and it isn't their fault.

So, no, I don't think in the end people are entirely responsible. They are inclined to be honest and compassionate or be selfish, dishonest, sadistic, hateful, perverted, or sociopathic with many factors that influence it. It is true that a person is responsible for their choices, but if their mind and emotions are deeply disturbed and they are chronically troubled and compelled with impulses to do wrong, I don't consider them responsible.

Many of them would not have the impulse to do those things if they could simply flip a switch and make it go away.

Now, if someone is constantly haunted with the strong impulse to assault or kill someone and eventually they act on it, there is choice involved, but that choice wouldn't have taken place if they had not been chronically inclined and compelled to do so, therefore it isn't completely their fault. Unless, they were entirely responsible for being inclined that way.

If you don't feel inclined to rape, torture, and murder innocent people, it wasn't because you chose not to be that way. It's simply you have the gift of compassion and empathy and your brain isn't wired to do that.

Do you agree? Although I like the statement "We are responsible for our behavior"...I'm not so sure it is entirely that black and white...it definitely isn't a true statement for some people.

 

[Spiderman]

You are responsible for your behavior unless another human is using something to manipulate your actions.

So, if you suffer a severe head injury as some people have that causes you to go from being a kind, meek, humble, gentle person, to a violent person...you are entirely responsible for the change?

 

[Twilight Hue]

Of course a person is responsible for their actions.

Circumstances dictate how one would respond.

 

[Godobeyer]

Of coure they are responsible.
Even If they drunk they are responsible , because they are whom made that mode. (made them selfs drunk).

They are not responsible except in forced one, by gun or threaten...etc

 

[LuisDantas]

I don't think people have much of a responsibility for their actions, personally. Most of our choices are terribly restricted by various forms of circunstances and environments.

What little responsibility we do have is itself restricted to the space created by our mental faculties regard prediction of consequences.

Most of our actual responsibility comes from deciding which values we want to hold, what they mean in practical terms, and how much we are willing to pay and sacrifice in order to pursue those values.

 

[Spiderman]

I guess your sweet housecat isn't going to get spanked by you for killing a baby bird or you wouldn't consider it a bad cat....the kitty cat is just doing what it's inclined to do...if it was a rabbit it wouldn't do that....that cat will torture that baby bird just learning how to fly for hours sometimes before ripping it to shreads...the cat can hear the bird screetching in agony...can hear the noises of the frightened, infuriated Mother bird...when we see that, many of us feel compassion....the poor bird will never fly, sing, be a mother, father, whatever, all just so that cant can have some fun...the cat is just doing what Cat's are inclined to do and is very delighted with what he/she is doing to that bird.

Hence, the cat made a choice, but what caused the choice was it's nature and disposition as a cat to kill...So, most peoples actions follow their dispositions...a cat never chose to be a cat...a sociopath doesn't choose to be a sociopath...a deeply compassionate person didn't choose it (though there are of course ways that we as humans can grow in our level of compassion no doubt, and a person without compassion can learn compassion and empathy (in some cases)...but still...the primary factor in whether a person will follow the golden rule or hurt people hangs primarily on what their disposition is (Which they are largely not responsible for any more than you are responsible for liking vanilla more than chocolate.)

 

[bobhikes]

I can not speak for others but I am fully responsible for my actions. I can not control my circumstances but I can always control my actions. No reflex is not an action.

 

[columbus]

What little responsibility we do have is itself restricted to the space created by our mental faculties regard prediction of consequences.

This is why I don't believe that free will is any more than an abstract concept, with no objective existence, but believe firmly in personal responsibility.
There is an important difference between responsible and culpable
Tom

 

[Kueid]

of course people are responsible for their actions BUT sometimes they aren't. In some cases is almost impossible to determine how responsible but choice is always present, you know, freewill and stuff

 

[Spiderman]

Without the chronic urge, the action wouldn't take place... Like sweet charitable women on PMS who become hateful and bitter (doing things that go against their conscience) and then their behavior completely changes when the PMS leaves.

Also, observing people who've had head injuries and how it can change them from being the epitome of calm and peaceful to the epitome of violent goes to show that there are factors completely out of their control that are influencing and changing their behavior.

Meaning, it demonstrates that how you are organically determines behaviors.... even a person who hasn't had a head injury may have something chemically or organically wrong with them that is causing the behavior.

Trauma or being unloved or abused can lead to sociopathic or criminal tendacies. Sociopaths are usually not (if ever ) a sociopath by choice.

Compassion and empathy is something some people can learn or grow in , but for the most part it is a gift like being able to walk or see ( some have been granted and others not. )

Whether a person is heterosexual or homosexual is out of their control. That is also the case with Compassion , empathy , or sadism as a general rule

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

No, you are responsible for your own choices. If you're having strong urges to do things that are harmful to yourself or others, you have the responsibility to get yourself under control and seek help. I, myself, have had strong urges to hurt myself and others, but I kept myself under control. I kept myself away from those I wanted to hurt. Now I don't get like that anymore. You have to learn how to control yourself. I have various psychiatric issues and a history of abuse and trauma, and I personally find it insulting when people use those sort of things as excuses for what they've done. It continues the stigma and pushes a sort of determinist line. No, we're not robots.

 

[Valjean]

I can not speak for others but I am fully responsible for my actions. I can not control my circumstances but I can always control my actions. No reflex is not an action.

But not everyone can control their actions, like insane people, people with brain tumors or psychosis, who inhabit alternative worlds.
As PopeADope pointed out, people are born with different predilections and wiring; different capacities for self control; different degrees of impulsiveness and ability to appreciate the effects of their actions.

 

[bobhikes]

But not everyone can control their actions, like insane people, people with brain tumors or psychosis, who inhabit alternative worlds.
As PopeADope pointed out, people are born with different predilections and wiring; different capacities for self control; different degrees of impulsiveness and ability to appreciate the effects of their actions.

I can not speak for others.

 

[Spiderman]

No, you are responsible for your own choices. If you're having strong urges to do things that are harmful to yourself or others, you have the responsibility to get yourself under control and seek help. I, myself, have had strong urges to hurt myself and others, but I kept myself under control. I kept myself away from those I wanted to hurt. Now I don't get like that anymore. You have to learn how to control yourself. I have various psychiatric issues and a history of abuse and trauma, and I personally find it insulting when people use those sort of things as excuses for what they've done. It continues the stigma and pushes a sort of determinist line. No, we're not robots.

The thing is though, you have a gift as well...you have the gift of empathy, compassion, and the desire to overcome your flaws...Some people do not even slightly ever receive the inner nudge that they should change....what in your mind said "I really shouldn't do this" was the gift you have of a moral compass, empathy, and whatever other virtues. Some people simply don't have that gift.

I'm the same way...(though I did stab a guy with a butcher knife while high on drugs), I truly am compassionate while sober and I'll do whatever it takes to stay sober...If I can't stay sober, I belong behind bars, and that's what I told my probation officer cuz I don't want to hurt anybody...

 

[Skwim]

Q. How responsible are people for their actions?

A. If one excludes those actions not influenced by outside factors it's obvious that what a person does cannot be ascribed to anyone else, and therefore would be his responsibility. No one else can be held accountable for doing them.
However, if one is thinking in terms of doing X or not doing X, considering that free will does not exist---there is no such thing as choosing to do one or the other---neither action can be said to place any responsibility on the person for doing or not doing them. A person has to do what he's been caused to do. To place responsibility on such an action is no different than saying a rock is responsible for where it sits. "Choosing," "chosen," are meaningless terms, as is "choice," unless indicating alternatives.


.

 

[Valjean]

Why are soldiers not considered responsible for their actions, considering they're doing things that would be considered illegal and immoral in their own neighborhoods?