Introduction to Philosophy: Freedom

Professor William Blattner

Hume's Second Argument that
Moral Responsibility Presupposes Psychological Determinism

  1. We expect that punishment will change the offender’s choices.

  2. If punishment changes the offender’s choices, then it must cause the offender’s choices to be different, presumably by reforming the offender’s character.

  3. Thus, punishment presupposes that character causes choices.