Free Will & Determinism

Free Will & Determinism

1. What is Free Will? This is the ability for people to make decisions and choices freely without any hindering or force to make that decision

2. What is Determinism? This is the idea that all our actions are governed by laws outside of our control

   • It states that it is wrong to praise or punish someone for their actions because it was determined, therefore making us NOT resposible for our actions

3. Hard Determinism

   • Does not believe in free will, and sees it as an illusion
   • Because we have no free will it means we are not morally responsible for our actions
   • Believe that all actions have a prior cause
   • The theory is strongly based on the work of Isaac Newton
     • He stated that all physical beings are governed by a series of unchangeable natural law such as gravity + motion
       • These laws assist in forming the basis for the cause and effect that fills the discussion of Hard Determinism
   • Main Hard Determinist Philosophers
     • Ted Honderich
     • John Locke
       • He provided the famous example of a man locked in a room. The man does not know that he is locked, however he chooses to stay therefore believing he made that decisionwhere in actual fact he had no choice. it was predetermined and shows that free will is an illusion
     • David Hume

4. Libertarianism

   • Believe that we DO have free will and NOTHING is determined
     • Therefore they believe we have complete moral responsibility over our actions
   • Believe that cause and effect is irrelevat
     • Because moral actions are the result of individual character and value
     • According to KANT we do not need to be dominated by the cause and effect of our emotions as we can apply our reason to out decisions

5. Soft Determinism

   • They believe that free will and determinism ARE compatible
     • instead that determinism is incprehensible without it
   • It is acually freedom that is incompatible with fatalism (the idea that eveything is entirely determined by fate)
   • It teaches us that we can be BOTH determined and free as some of our moral choices are free but aspects of our nature are determined
   • When they say a person acted freely they mean that peson did not act under compulsion or external preassure
     • Therefore soft determinists define freedom as LIBERTY OF SPONTANEITY
       • This is the freedom to act according to nes nature which is determined by external factors e.g. Hereditary, Education, Background
   • They believe that we are responsible for all our actions regardless of whether they coud have bee determined by our values and choices therefore we are not morally responsible for the actions we perform

6. Predetestination

   • This is the belief that God has already determined all things in our lives fro the choice of breakfast food we have in the morning to who will be 'saved' by God at the end of all time.
   • JOHN CALVIN stated that:
     • Mankind is full of sin and Evil and so we are incapable of using free will for good, using the story of Adam and Eve and the original sin as the example of this.
       • Therefore God must predetermine our actions and who will be saved otherwise no one would be saved
   • It is believed by Christians that when mankind was created by God, we originally had free will, but because of the Original Sin our free will was taken away from us
   • Because our lives have been predetermined then it can be argued that:
     • People only do good things because God determined it
     • People only do sinful things because God determined it