M Naghten Code Of Ethics

Is ethics of humans associated with the rational and calculating functions part of the brain or associated with the feeling and emotional part of the brain (Dennett)? Assuming that androids can understand human emotions without feeling them themselves, they would only be able to learn ethics through their calculations and algorithms. This places the programmers as even more responsible. A flawed moral code is almost guaranteed because of the limitations of ethics and ethical theories (that we have so far) which have not yet been overcome with an objective solution by philosophers and theorists.
Without having full consciousness of the significance or context of our actions, could we still have moral responsibility (Edmonds)? If a person with somnambulism (sleepwalking disorder) does something unconsciously, can they be held morally responsible for it (Edmonds)? Moral responsibility requires conscious deliberation of one’s actions – the …show more content…
The M’Naghten Rule is an old English test in law which states that: “If a defendant was so bereft of sanity that he understood the ramifications of his behavior ‘no more than in an infant, a brute, or a wild beast,’ he would not be held responsible for his crimes” (“From Daniel M'Naghten to John Hinckley: A Brief History of the Insanity Defense”). An argument to the rule is that it makes it too easy for a defendant with a severe mental disorder to escape responsibility for any crimes, regardless of how big a role the disorder played in the incident (“The M'Naghten Rule”). This can be presented as a counter-argument as to why robots should not be held morally responsible since if an artificially intelligent robot is indeed self-aware – and therefore aware of its actions –then they could not be pardoned by the M’Naghten