One of the central assumptions behind our Moral and Social Attitudes of Responsibility is that our actions are in some important respect up to us; that though we chose to do X we could alternatively have chosen to do Y. What if we are mistaken about this? How should we think about moral and social responsibility if our actions are the product of forces outside our control? We will begin by reviewing one or two (surprisingly compelling!) arguments supporting the claim that we do not have free will. With these in mind we will then explore different rationales for why we might imprison someone who could not but have robbed a bank, and whether the altruist deserves praise for an action even if we accept that s/he could not have done otherwise. Can our commitment to moral and social responsibility survive without the freedom to choose our actions?
