Moral Responsibility News!

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Moral Responsibility and Free Will News!

• Prime mammal found in my Ethics class! "Real" "Pure" Altruism!

• A story from the Innocence Project's Conviction Integrity Unit - Toforest Johnson. [1]

• Why it is so difficult to listen to the George Floyd murder trial.

• Minnesota case recalls old Italian court judgement [2].

• Mass shootings, gun buying, and the pandemic. [3], [4]. The existence of large trends might belie explanations that focus on individual moral responsibility.

• Example of "cultural disfunction" in "go to" narratives for mass shootings.

• Thinking about mass shootings, predictability, and responsibility.

• Tragic multiple shooting in Atlanta. Consider two possibilities....

• MR issues inside the $2 trillion dollar pandemic plan.

• Some follow ups on the terrible car crash. [5], [6]

• Nxivm cult doctor defends "branding" women in the cult. [7]

• WA Supreme Court decision invalidates drug possession law. [8]

• Is anyone morally responsible for the Texas power grid failure? This discussion might be a neat basis for an analogy between group(social)/individual responsibility. Second example, Are we collectively responsible for the rate at which people believed in conspiracies? Could a town share responsibility for the accidents on a stretch of road known to be dangerous?

• Pride is also about "esteem," maybe a better opposing term to shame. "I'm proud of myself," roughly, "I have done something estimable."

• Virginia becomes the first Southern state to eliminate the death penalty. Interesting reporting on crime victims responses. A proxy for retribution in some cases.

• Update on "I'm so proud of you."

• Not just Olympic officials make moral mistakes. [9]

• In terms of our course research, what does it mean for a parent to say "I'm proud of my kids."?

• Investigation completed in helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and guests.

• Discussion with friend about adoption.

• Discussion with friend about BJW and Christian commitments. "Oh, right. Injustice is our fault."

• Marjorie Taylor Greene case is sometimes discussed in terms of "punishment" and sometimes in terms of being "unqualified" to be on an Education Committee in the House of Representatives.

• Guy at the Lowe's without a mask. Retributive thought process follows. Retributive emotions can also be channeled verbally.

• Bill Gates interview touches on MR issue of praise and luck. Listen at 17:24 for one minute.

• New Capitol Hill Police Chiefs apologizes for failures on January 6. Let's take a minute to think about how apologies relate to blame and accepting responsibility.

• Throughout the pandemic, there has been a persistent discussion about the degree of responsibility we should take for reducing deaths and avoiding behaviors that spread the virus.

• Occassionally, we will use this segment to learn about one of the saints in the class. Today: Baba Fakruddin

• Capitol Hill Police officer who led insurrectionists away from Senate is promoted and honored at the Inauguration today.

• How do we assess the culpability of a mob under the influence of a conspiracy theory? Does "radicalization" compromise responsibility?

• Rethinking penalties for Vets.

• Recent Supreme Court executions raise questions about MR.