[ExI] free-will, determinism, crime and punishment

[gts]

Lee,

"A man can surely do what he wills to do, but he cannot determine what he  
wills." -Schopenhauer

Schopenhauer's remark is consistent with compatibilism.

The criminal did freely what he willed to do, and in this sense he had  
free-will. Nobody held a gun to his head. But it does not follow that he  
could have willed to do other than what he in fact willed to do.

As such he should be incarcerated for what he did according to his  
criminal nature (a nature which is in need of rehabilitation), but he  
should not be condemned further on the grounds that he willed to do wrong  
when he could have willed to do right. There is no evidence to prove that  
he could have willed to do right. As far as anyone knows, his will to  
commit the crime was a function of his criminal nature and determined by  
it.

-gts