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Moral Responsibility In Ken Levy's Analysis

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In 2015, Ken Levy wrote an article discussing the implications situationism has on moral and criminal responsibility. The topic of whether or not moral responsibility is needed in order to have criminal responsibility has become a highly debated issue over the years. The common belief is that moral responsibility is needed to have criminal responsibility, but through the psychological theory of situationism, he tries to prove it is not necessary. The main goal of his article is not only to prove that moral responsibility is not necessary for criminal responsibility, but also that one can be justly punished without the moral aspect. In order to prove his theory, Levy has to prove that situationism negates moral responsibility and that situationism should not be recognized as a criminal excuse. While Levy does present a strong argument, not only are there a few flaws with it, but it also undermines human nature. This paper will aim to discredit Levy’s argument by disproving his premise that situationism negates moral responsibility through the psychological and philosophical explanation of moral responsibility and how individuals do not …show more content…

According to Levy (2015), responsibility can be defined as: “responsibility at its core—a particular act (or omission) in conjunction with a set of threshold rational, cognitive, and volitional capacities—is all that is necessary for just blame and punishment” (p.787). Based on this definition, moral responsibility is when an individual knows and understands that one’s actions are either wrong or right, while also being able to refrain from performing wrong actions. Criminal responsibility is knowledge of the criminal law and being able to refrain from doing actions that are against the criminal law. For clarification, Levy sets up conditions for both moral and criminal responsibility. The conditions for moral responsibility

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In the paper “Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility”, Susan Wolf discusses her ideas on what is necessary for an individual to be responsible for their actions. She argues that in order for the person to be held morally responsible for their actions, they need to be morally sane. To consider one to be morally sane, this individual must have an ideology that is able for them to distinguish right from wrong. Hence, a morally sane person must be able to reason and have a sound mind. Furthermore, Wolf establishes the sane deep-self view by applying other philosopher’s ideas.

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