QuoteThis week on The Philosopher's Zone we meet one of the foremost thinkers of our time. Daniel Dennett is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. Described as the great de-mystifier of consciousness, Dennett has been quoted as saying he developed a deep distrust of the methods he saw other philosophers employing and decided that before he could trust his intuitions about the mind, he had to figure out how the brain could possibly accomplish the mind's work.
Transcript (http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/daniel-dennett-on-human-consciousness-and-free-will/3686776)
MP3 download (http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2011/11/pze_20111126.mp3)
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We, our brains, our minds are enough different from that of any other creature that we can hold each other and ourselves morally responsible, and it would be a travesty to do that with any other animal, and that's a key difference.
Moral responsibility is evident in nature. Here is an example (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/642731.stm) where orphaned elephants ran amok until some adults were introduced to teach them how to act morally responsible.