In: Psychology
If someone with a gun holds it up to your head and says “Your money or your life” then did you exercise free will when you gave her your money? What about if someone uses the threat of force against you? What if someone threatens to kill your family if you don’t cover for their crime? Are you responsible for covering for their crimes? Did you have the free will to do otherwise? What if they threatened to blackmail you at work if you didn’t cover up their stealing? Are you still responsible for your actions? Why or why not?
If someone with a gun holds it up to my head and says “Your money or your life”, i will not at all be exercising free will. Because free will reflects the independence/ autonomy and self sufficiency in the context of one's own existence.
When i wil be giving my money to that person holding the gun, there will be a restriction, force applied which supresses the free will and i will have to behave the way he/ she wants because my priority will be to save my life.
If someone uses force/ threatens to kill my family, i will be responsible to cover their crimes. This is because i will not be having any other option to choose. My concentration will be on saving the lives of my family members.
If someone threatens/ blackmails me at workplace, i will not be covering their crimes/ stealing because i will be having my own freedom in this case. There's no threat to my family members. In this case i will be ressponsible for my actions because in this case i will be determined to react and respond to the people on other side. Further, i will not be under a severe pressure, the way i will be in the previous case.