"Either they had ethical knowledge prior to eating the forbidden fruit, or they did not.

      If they did, then it doesn't make sense why it would be called the tree of knowledge of good and evil; and the story fails to explain the origin of RESPONSIBILITY.

      If they did not have prior ethical knowledge, then the name of the tree makes sense, and the origin of responsibility is explained. But it doesn't make sense that Adam and Eve should be punished. They didn't know right from wrong until after the fact, so they were not RESPONSIBLE.!"

I. THE GARDEN OF EDEN

Twenty-five years ago I studied the texts of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition pretty  intensively.  I like those parts of the Bible best that attempt to deal with basic philosophical problems: particularly ethical problems, or problems related to good and evil. That is why I like the Garden of Eden story so much. I see it as a wonderful story attempting to explain a very difficult philosophical concept: responsibility. 

If you don't see it that way, that's fine. I'm not interested in making you see it the way I do. I'm interested only in helping you learn about the concept responsibility. And I think you can learn about responsibility from the Garden of Eden story, however you prefer to read it.

Recall that Adam and Even lived an idyllic life in Eden: no rent, no credit or utility bills, no grocery shopping. They had hardly a care in the world. There was just this one thing: they were not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.