The dog, unlike the human, does not have will and as such cannot override its desires. The will of the human is able to override a desire or impulse. As such, a human can be held liable in a way that a dog cannot.
I think this may be slightly missing the point. We hold humans liable not because they can override desires -- dogs can do that also, btw, as they may avoid some delicious food if they think they may get in trouble for eating it -- but instead because they have the ability to perform moral reasoning, i.e., to think about the "right" thing to do. The "knee-jerk" intelligence response... (read more)
The dog, unlike the human, does not have will and as such cannot override its desires. The will of the human is able to override a desire or impulse. As such, a human can be held liable in a way that a dog cannot.
I think this may be slightly missing the point. We hold humans liable not because they can override desires -- dogs can do that also, btw, as they may avoid some delicious food if they think they may get in trouble for eating it -- but instead because they have the ability to perform moral reasoning, i.e., to think about the "right" thing to do. The "knee-jerk" intelligence response... (read more)