> I see no reason why we cannot still be pragmatic and assign responsibility based on the ways people act, and what their states were that led up to their actions
We can do that, but it's arguably treating people as means rather than ends. As I said, I don't view myself as merely a bundle of state, and it therefore seems somewhat immoral to treat others as if they were just bundles of state. It's kind of fundamental to a moral view of the world to believe that you are no more or less a person than any other person. So unless I can really persuade myself that I myself am just an automaton of some sort, I'm not sure I can deny free will and nonetheless maintain a satisfactory moral outlook.
It's kind of fundamental to a moral view of the world to believe that you are no more or less a person than any other person.
It would definitely be weird for one to have free will and everyone else not to, and I am certainly not making that claim. However, if you believe that one can behave morally with respect to dolphins, cockroaches or the environment--and most people would agree that some or all of the members of that set are mere bundles of state and/or lack free will--then it seems that one should be able to act morally with respect to a bundle of state person, too.
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> I see no reason why we cannot still be pragmatic and assign responsibility based on the ways people act, and what their states were that led up to their actions
We can do that, but it's arguably treating people as means rather than ends. As I said, I don't view myself as merely a bundle of state, and it therefore seems somewhat immoral to treat others as if they were just bundles of state. It's kind of fundamental to a moral view of the world to believe that you are no more or less a person than any other person. So unless I can really persuade myself that I myself am just an automaton of some sort, I'm not sure I can deny free will and nonetheless maintain a satisfactory moral outlook.
It's kind of fundamental to a moral view of the world to believe that you are no more or less a person than any other person.
It would definitely be weird for one to have free will and everyone else not to, and I am certainly not making that claim. However, if you believe that one can behave morally with respect to dolphins, cockroaches or the environment--and most people would agree that some or all of the members of that set are mere bundles of state and/or lack free will--then it seems that one should be able to act morally with respect to a bundle of state person, too.