[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
"If when a man writes a poem or commits a murder, the bodily movements involved in his act result solely from physical causes, it would seem absurd to put up a statue to him in the one case and to hang him in the other."

This doesn't really say much on the question of whether we have free will or not, but it illustrates the necessity of acting as if.

[/ QUOTE ]
I assume Russell is talking morality because its fairly obvious why we would seek to stop behavior that hurt us and encourage behavior we like.

If someones going around murdering people then we want him stopped. What difference does it make whether or not we believe the murdering is an act of free-will?

How would you behave differently if you believed you had no free-will?

chez