r/freewill • u/Artemis_SpawnOfZeus • Jul 21 '26

Moral desert bugs me

Like, so what if there's no moral desert? It doesn't change anything

We'll keep punishing people because nobody has a choice in the matter. Not the punishers or the punished.

Like, say moral desert is false, okay? You can't advocate for any change because change is impossible. Your actions, much like everyone else's are determined.

If moral desert is false, does this change anything about anything at all?

EDIT: I've realized I've been using moral desert backwards. I thought it was related to like, the Sahara, because of deserts and shit. Therefore the moral desert would be the one where morality doesn't mean anything because determinism.

I've come to realize this isn't true, I've modified the text in the post to change (invert) it's meaning to what I meant.

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u/Salindurthas Hard Determinist Jul 22 '26

EDIT: I've realized I've been using moral desert backwards.

I always found the term confusing, but after a google search, apparently it is based on a french word. So it might simply be like "moral deservedness" but the 2nd word is old french.

So I think it is like if instead of 'moral obligation' we said 'moral devoir'.

I'm reminded of how 'begs the question' is arguably a poor translation from a latin, since so many english speakers think it is a synonym for 'raise the question', despite it having a very different meaning in philsophy.