Assignment Instructions/ Description
actions with the SLA?
‘Responsible’ has a few different meanings: a thing is trivially responsible if it is the cause of something. For example, in this sense a fire can be responsible for destroying a house. This kind of trivial responsibility is not what I mean. A person is legally responsible if according to the law they are held accountable for an action. That’s not what I mean either. Someone is morally responsible or genuinely responsible if it would be appropriate to hold her accountable, or to praise or blame for her actions. This is the kind of responsibility that comes from free choices. Your question is: Does Patty Hearst deserve the blame for what she did? Was she acting freely?
To answer the question about genuine responsibility (freedom) you’ll need to do at least the following four things:
(1) Depending on what you’ll argue, give some criteria for what makes someone genuinely responsible or give some conditions that, when satisfied, make someone not responsible. Just reflect on the story and your intuitions for this. Try to justify your criteria. You don’t need to research this. Doing that could suck you into an incredibly long project. You are making a general point here about responsibility (not a specific point about Hearst yet—that’s next).
(2) Say what relevant facts of Patty Hearst’s case show that the criteria or conditions from above are satisfied or not. That is, use as many of the circumstances as necessary to show that Hearst either meets or fails to meet the conditions for genuine responsibility. This is a specific point about Hearst’s case. You’ll tie the features of that case to your general point about responsibility.
I give some resources below. You don’t need to do additional research, but you are welcome to—Just cite your sources in a consistent way. If you use my sources below, you can just cite them by number.
(3) Put a simple version of the argument into standard form. Use the conditions as a premise and the facts about Hearst to support the other. Be sure to clearly state the conclusion you are supporting. Briefly defend the premises by referring to your results for (1) and (2). For example, you might give an argument with this general form:
If a person is responsible for an action then she must have either X’d or Y’d.
Patty Hearst did not X and did not Y when she did Z.
So, Patty Hearst was not responsible for doing Z.
Or,
If someone has A, B, and C then she is responsible.
Patty Hearst had A,B and C when she did D.
So, Patty Hearst was responsible when she did D.
Please don’t give your argument one of these forms exactly. They’re just to illustrate the way you might turn section (1) and section (2) into an argument (as premises one and two)
(4) Consider an objection to the argument and respond to it. Make your argument valid so that the objection you anticipate is a criticism of one of the premises.
It is an option to argue that it is impossible to determine whether she was responsible. This could be because you identified conditions for responsibility that are not among the known facts of Hearst’s case.
Look over the facts of the Patty Hearst story with the resources below. You can cite by number (e.g., Patricia Hearst drove the getaway car. [1]). You don’t need an official citation unless you use other sources.
Text:
[1] Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
[2] This CNN story is old and looks poorly produced, but it is fair (in contrast to the newer sensational materials that accompany CNN’s docudrama): http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/people/shows/hearst/profile.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Audio/Video:
[3] CBS news after kidnapping: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/40-years-ago-today-patty-hearst-kidnapped/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
[4] NBC news after arrest:Patty Hearst Is Arrested - September 18th, 1975 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.Patty Hearst Is Arrested - September 18th, 1975
[5] First released hostage recording:patty hearst 21274.wmv (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.patty hearst 21274.wmv
[6] FBI bank robbery footage: https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/patty-hearst (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
[7] Interview. Why she didn’t run:Patty Hearst on why she didnt run (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.Patty Hearst on why she didnt run
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