Sherlock Holmes explains why he believes Professor Moriarty murdered his victim: "Elementary, my dear Watson. Professor Moriarty wanted to inherit his grandfather's estate and the millions of pounds that went with it, but he believed his grandfather's impending marriage would mean the new wife would inherit everything. So the only way to ensure the inheritance was to kill him before the marriage with a poison that no one could detect -- well, almost no one."
Dr. Watson, who is usually accepts his friends reasoning, but who is a medical doctor, objected this time: "How naive, my dear Holmes. Several neurons in neural cortex of the brain of Moriarty fired which cause an electrochemical impulse to be propagated in the nervous system of the murderer which contracted muscles in the arms and hand that opened the poison and poured it into the tea cup."
Which one of these detectives (and their explanation) is correct? Could they both be correct -- or maybe neither? What is the best way to explain human behavior?
The case of Professor Moriarty murdering his grandfather is a very interesting one to think about since the main question that is being asked at hand is "What motivates human behavior?" Is it our own selfish desires for self-preservation or our own genetic/ biological makeup? Or could it possible be something else? I personally believe that there are multiple answers to the question of what motivates our behaviors and actions as humans with some being more simple than others. However, before I proceed to say what I personally believe is the motive behind Professor Moriarty's murder, I want to ask a question about this particular scenario. My question is why does Professor Moriarty even contain a vial of poison in the first place? The last time I checked, I don't think that poison is one of the required ingredients that you add to your tea (better yet to make tea). You don't bring a bottle of poison with you when you are making any type of food or beverage UNLESS you intend to put it in someone's food or beverage to harm them. So, the fact that Prof. Moriarty contains poison during a time where it is NOT needed is a very suspicious act in and of itself and I don't necessarily think that Dr. Watson's explanation of an electrochemical impulse that's propagated in the nervous system can explain why Prof. Moriarty even contains a bottle of poison. So, with that in mind, I personally think that Detective Holmes theory about Prof. Moriarty's motives are closer to the actual reason than Dr. Watson's theory. And even if it's not the exact reason that Detective Holmes suggested (Prof. Moriarty killed his grandfather because he wanted to inherit his estate and his millions of pounds before his grandfather's soon to become wife could inherit it), I think that the scenario suggests in someway, shape, or form that self-preservation and greed were involved in Prof. Moriarty's motives.
ReplyDeleteSherlock Holmes is right to blame Professor Moriarty for the murder of his grandfather, because the act involved complicated mental processes, rather than just physical inputs and outputs as argued by Dr. Watson. Watson seems to base his argument on the misguided functionalist idea that Moriarty cannot be blamed for the poisoning because it simply involved an input- his muscles moving to place poison in his grandfather's tea- and the output- his grandfather dying. However, the clear motive for the murder established by Holmes- Moriarty’s want to inherit his grandfather’s estate instead of his fiancé- demonstrates that Moriarty must have had thoughts about poisoning his grandfather that led him to put the poison in the cup. In other words, this event involved not just physical inputs and outputs, but non-physical properties that influenced them. Had the Professor not had thoughts (qualia) about wanting to inherit the estate, he would not have carried out the poisoning. Additionally, the premeditated nature of the murder means that Professor Moriarty had thoughts about killing his grandfather before choosing to place poison in his tea. Therefore, it follows that events must consist of both mental and physical components since the Professor’s internal thoughts existed without him carrying out the physical act of murder for some period of time. Under functionalism, however, this cannot occur because an event is wholly defined by physical inputs and outputs. Therefore, the fact that Moriarty can be blamed for the murder of his grandfather because his experience of wanting to inherit his grandfather’s wealth led to the physical act of poisoning his tea poses a problem to functionalism; actions are not just based on their physical components.
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