The Voluntary Nature of Ethical-Moral Behavior in the 21st Century (Or In Any Other): A Personal Perspective

Abstract

Increasingly in the modern research world there are questions raised about actions taken by academics who do now have full control of their choice of action. In the laboratory setting, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and even junior professors are often compelled to follow courses of action that are determined by their supervisors or senior members of their departments. So the question of moral determinism derives from the more fundamental question of what actions are voluntary, and to what degree — a question that has informed the thought of philosophers as far back as Aquinas and Duns Scotus. What follows is a personal reflection on currents in this line of inquiry.