Overview
Purpose
This discussion will help us understand how determinism relates to moral responsibility, especially for actions that are morally wrong.
Task
Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were two wealthy, privileged young men in Chicago who murdered someone. Clarence Darrow was their defense attorney. He claimed that they should not be given the death penalty, because there must be some cause and effect, some relationship between their childhood and environment, and the horrible thing they did.
How does this relate to the concept of free will and determinism?
Were their lives determined for them, by their circumstances, before they did the crime?
Which philosopher from our unit would agree with their lawyer? Why?