A rendition (Ѻ) of the famous 270BC "slave stealing parable", attributed to Zeno of Citium, or "determinism defense" argument, according to which the wrongful slave, thief, or murder, pleads for forgiveness, leniency, or clemency, on the reasoning or logic that in a deterministic universe, his actions were carried out by forces beyond his control (see: external force), hence he should be absolved of the said crimes and not be punished. [4] |
“Zeno, they say, was whipping a slave for stealing. When the latter said, ‘It was decreed by fate for me to steal’, Zeno replied, “And to be beaten’.”
“But you should not punish me for stealing. The destiny of the ages, over which I have no control, has determined that I should steal.”
“The destiny of the ages, over which I have no control either, has also determined that I should beat you for it.”
“Long, long ago, before we were governed by Christian morality, the Eleatic Zeno, preached fatalism, which is very much like determinism. One day he caught his slave stealing and thrashed him for it. Eimasto moi klephai ("It was destined that I steal from you”), said the slave, “and also to be trashed” was the laconic answer of Zeno.
A “determinism argument”, aka predestination, plead cartoon (Ѻ) by Roy Delgado. |
“Sometimes a crude materialism of this sort is used to justify malicious actions. "OK I lied to you, but I am only a collection of atoms, and concepts like good and evil and being 'wrong' [or 'right'] are not appropriate to collections of atoms. Therefore what I did was not wrong". Which reminds of the story (I can't remember where I read it), of the man who was about to be executed for murder the next day, and pleaded to the king for clemency. "I could not help my actions, I was determined by my nature and by the stars to commit these evil deed, it was all predestined". To which the king replied "I forgive you. I also forgive the man who is to execute you tomorrow".”
“Those who have affirmed that the soul is distinguished from the body, is immaterial, draws its ideas from its own peculiar source, acts by its own energies, without the aid of any exterior object, have, by a consequence of their own system, enfranchised [liberated] it from those physical laws according to which all beings of which we have a knowledge are obliged to act. They have believed that the soul is mistress of its own conduct, is able to regulate its own peculiar operations, has the faculty to determine its will by its own natural energy; in a word, they have pretended that man is a free agent.”— Baron d’Holbach (c.1770), “A Defense of Determinism” (Ѻ)
“For how stands the fact? That, next to the greatness of these cosmic forces, the quality which most forcibly strikes everyone who does not avert his eyes from it is their perfect and absolute recklessness. They go straight to their end without regarding what or whom they crush on the road. Optimists, in their attempts to prove that ‘whatever is, is right,’ are obliged to maintain, not that nature ever turns one step from her path to avoid trampling us into destruction, but that it would be very unreasonable in us to expect that she should. Pope's ‘Shall gravitation cease when you go by?’ may be a just rebuke to anyone who should be so silly as to expect common human morality from nature. But if the question were between two men, instead of between a man and a natural phenomenon, that triumphant apostrophe would be thought a rare piece of impudence. A man who should persist in hurling stones or firing cannon when another man 'goes by,' and, having killed him, should urge a similar plea in exculpation, would very deservedly be found guilty of murder. In sober truth, nearly all the things which men are hanged or imprisoned for doing to one another are nature's every-day performances.”— John Mill (1852), “Essay on Nature” [7]
“If neuronal events in the brain determine behavior, irrespective of whether they are conscious or unconscious, it is hard to find room for free will. But if free will does not exist, there can be no responsibility, and the structure of human societies must be revised.”— Christian de Duve (1995), Vital Dust [6]
“If the soul is out of a job, well some people, obviously, would think that’s terrible, but the worst thing we could find out is that we don’t have souls [see: soulless bag of chemicals]. But, it could also be a wonderful thing. Our taste for justice is a useful illusion.”— Joshua Greene (2013), Moral Tribes [5]