Patty Hearst had not been seen in months when, in February of 1974, surveillance videos of her and the group that kidnapped her surfaced showing them committing two armed robberies (FBI). A terrorist group kidnapped and ransomed her earlier that year; though, no one could find Hearst until months after the videos surfaced (FBI). After being found, Authorities put Hearst on trial for the crimes she had committed while kidnapped. Hearst’s case brought up many questions on how to proceed, to prosecute or not, as the defenses case rested on her not having free will during her time with the terrorist group. Hearst’s defense argued the group had brainwashed her and she could not be punished for her actions. The prosecution said she had willingly joined the group and chosen to not just stay a hostage. Did Hearst act out of free will or was she forced? Disregarding the unknown details of the case, one can look at Hearst’s situation through different philosophical theories on free will, including Determinism, …show more content…
We can be held accountable for some of our actions because we have brains that process right and wrong, choice and no choice, etc. A person whose brain does not function properly, someone with a mental illness or some sort of brain damage, would not be able to process events in the same way, and therefore would not be able to decide to do or not to do with true and available thoughts in tact. Blackburn further defines Compatibilism with this idea in mind later in his work:
The subject acted freely if she could have done otherwise in the right sense. This means she would have done otherwise if she had chosen differently and, under the impact of other true and available thoughts or considerations […] True and available thoughts and considerations are those that represent her situation accurately, and […] that she could reasonably be expected to have taken into account.