Libertarianism, Free Will and Determinism (focus: Philosophers and quotes)

Libertarianism, Free Will and Determinism (focus: Philosophers and quotes)

1. Compatiabilism

   • Hume
     • "by liberty we mean the power of acting or not acting according to the determination of the will"
   • Aj Ayer
     • Freedom is when "your action has a special sort of cause"

2. Determinism

   • Hard Determinism
     • John Locke (locked room - seems a determinist argument)
     • Honderich
       • "Simple or complex however all actions are movements...caused by states of the brain....we can only act in fact, as we do. It follows too that we are not responsible for our actions.

3. Libertarianism

   • Political
     • J.S. Mill
       • "whatever crushes individualism is despotism"
     • John Locke
       • the question be not "whether the will be free, but WHETHER A MAN BE FREE"
   • Philosophical (metaphysical aspects)
     • Kant
       • metaphysical part of is that is free. Not determined by causes etc.
     • William James
       • Soft Determinism is "a quagmire of Evasions"
         • [swamp - metaphorically speaking! so unclear]
       • "my first act of free will is to believe in free will"

4. Free Will

   • John Locke
     • denies the "will"
   • Kant
   • John Searle
     • "All rational activity presupposes Free Will"