1. UNDERSTANDING THE FREEWILL FRONTIER: CREATING A MORE JUST ETHICS SYSTEM.
- Author
-
Young, Christopher
- Subjects
Normativity (Ethics) -- Evaluation -- Research ,Free will and determinism -- Ethical aspects -- Research ,Decision-making -- Ethical aspects -- Research ,Neurosciences -- Psychological aspects -- Research ,Epigenetic inheritance -- Research ,Social ethics -- Evaluation -- Research ,Social sciences and ethics -- Evaluation -- Research - Abstract
CONTENTS ABSTRACT 250 INTRODUCTION 251 I. BACKGROUND 253 A. Graphic #1: Free Will and Responsibility Framework 256 B. Graphic #2: Cartesian view of the Free Will Frontier 257 C. The [...], This article addresses the gap in the research in normative ethics. The primary question in this research is, how and to what extent do discoveries from neuroscience, genetics and epigenetics alter the historical definition of free will? The literature review provides a historical and definitional assessment of free will, while exploring the various scientific discoveries which challenge it. It is also discovered that there is some interactive effect between a person's environment and their epigenetics, suggesting that harmful environments may negatively impact future generations of people from the same genetic lineage. It is proposed here that decision-making, virtue theory, free will, and social justice must be considered in a uniform framework that can be used to assist in teaching normative Ethics. It is also suggested that people born with good genetics have a better chance of making ethical decisions, and developing good habits, when compared to others raised in not so nurturing environments, and who are genetically predisposed to certain actions. This paper attempts to explain how best to consider and implement the new scientific discoveries in neuroscience, which assumes that a libertarian free will exists despite the continued advances in understanding the interaction of the brain and consciousness, in foundational discussions on normative ethical ethics and its downstream impact on social justice. The idea of creating virtuous agents must go further and push past the idea that ethics can be taught in the classroom, home, or judicial system.
- Published
- 2023