Examining Human Nature and Moral Responsibility

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Gregg Caruso about free will, moral responsibility, and retributive justice. They begin with discussing the motivation and process for writing his new book with Daniel Dennett. They provide a definition of free will and the term, desert. They talk about the interaction of free will with retributive justice and punishment. They also discuss the notion of luck and the three layers associated with this concept. They talk about the role of moral and social emotions with free will and the various ways of doing preventive and rehabilitative justice. They also discuss the social determinants involved with criminal behavior and many other topics. 

Gregg Caruso is a philosopher, professor, author, and speaker. He is currently a professor of philosophy at SUNY Corning and Honorary Professor of philosophy at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Just Deserts: Debating Free Will (Co-authored with Daniel Dennett) and Rejecting Retributivism: Free Will, Punishment, and Criminal justice are his two most recent books published this year. You can find his work at his website. Twitter: @greggdcaruso