Self-study
Passage A.
P1
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Intro / Context / Premise ·
Legal system rests on questionable assumption that free will exists
Free will may not exist.
P2
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Premise ·
Free will does not exist at all
There is no unconnected spot in the brain that's independent of all other parts. There's nowhere for free will to hide, so to speak.
P3
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Premise ·
Even if a little free will exists
It's so small that it should not be considered significant.
P4
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Conclusion ·
Blameworthiness should be removed from legal system
Because it falsely assumes free will exists. Legal system should be forward looking, focusing on future behavior of criminals.
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P5
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Question ·
Can the law discard the concept of free will?
P6
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Premise ·
Would be difficult at the level of the individual
Research suggests that individuals cling onto moral judgments and seek to assign blame even if they are primed to believe in determinism (i.e., no free will).
P7
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Premise ·
Would be difficult at the level of society
We've tried in the past to focus only on rehabilitation but there was public backlash and retribution has returned.
P8
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Conclusion ·
Blameworthiness serves a useful function
Even if it's "false," it's useful. Legal system should focus on why people feel the need to blame.
Passage Style
15.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██
a
sympathy with the █████████ ███████████ ██ ██████ █████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ████████
Passage A’s premise is that free will doesn’t exist. Passage A’s recommended policy based on that premise is that we should get rid of blameworthiness from how the legal system thinks about punishment. Passage B has sympathy with those premises — he acknowledges that free will might not exist. But Passage B is skeptical about the feasibility of getting rid of blameworthiness from how the legal system thinks about punishment.
b
intellectual acceptance, coupled ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████
Passage B doesn’t “fear” the consequences if people start to accept that people have no free will. Although the author acknowledges that people did not accept a rehab-focused legal system, this doesn’t imply the author has “fear.”
c
forceful rejection, both ██ ███ ████████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████
Passage B doesn’t reject Passage A’s premises. In fact, Passage B seems to acknowledge that free will might not exist (which is the substance of Passage A’s premises).
d
studied neutrality, with ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ██
Passage B isn’t neutral toward Passage A’s argument. Passage B thinks that Passage A’s conclusion isn’t feasible to implement. This involves some kind of opinion about Passage A’s argument, so Passage B isn’t neutral.
e
sympathy with the ██████████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████████
Passage B doesn’t doubt that Passage A’s conclusion (that it makes sense to abandon blameworthiness as justification for punishment) follows from Passage A’s premises (that people don’t have free will). What Passage B doubts is the feasibility of doing what Passage A recommends.