Document Type
Senior Thesis
Publication Date
4-2015
Abstract
John Martin Fischer has stated that his initial motivation for his work The Metaphysics of Free Will was “to defend moral culpability from the threats of causal determinism and divine omniscience” while also asserting semi-compatibilism. Taking that a step further, the goal for my own work is to defend our need for moral culpability from a metaphysical standpoint. In this essay I will argue that ultimately there are only two possibilities when it comes to a moral-metaphysical framework, only one of which involves human culpability: either human existence has intrinsic meaning and worth, therefore giving weight to our moral decision making and warranting our own culpability when making moral judgments, or that there is ultimately no objective value to human existence, thereby neutralizing any supposed moral implications attached to our actions.
Recommended Citation
McElrath, Austin, "A Necessity of Morals" (2015). Pepperdine University, Featured Research. Paper 94.
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/sturesearch/94