Free Will

Free Will

1. Soft-Determinism

   • This is believing that free will and determinism can both exist without being logically inconsistent (Also called compatatibilism)
     • Chrysippus, a Stoic Philosopher, was the first compatibalist
       • Thomas Hobbes was the founding father of his belief. He wrote "when first a man has an appetite or will to something, to which immediately before he had no appetite nor will, the cause of his will is not the will itself, but something else not in his own disposing. So that whereas it is out of controversy that of voluntary actions the will is the necessary cause, and by this which is said the will is also caused by other things whereof it disposes not, it follows that voluntary actions have all of them necessary causes and therefore are necessitated."
         • This position holds that determinism is basically correct, though free will and chaotic events can happen periodically. They claim that matter does not follow predetermined laws, but rather that it is governed by probabilities. Nothing is actually determined to do something, but rather have a tendency to act in a certain way.
         • In summation, necessary causes and voluntary actions are compatible

2. Hard Determinism

   • Belief that every human action is a result of something else, therefore free will cannot exist.
     • Poses the question "Do you have free will to choose your thoughts or are they ‘just there?’"
       • This type of thinking can be applied to crimes. Ex: American lawyer Darrow represented two killers/kidnappers claiming that because they were neglected and abused as children, they had no choice but to become attention and power seeking adults
         • Ted Honderich - the major spokesman for Hard Determinism. Unlike most of his colleagues specializing in free will, Honderich didn't take the easy path of Compatibilism, nor did he go down the path of Incompatibilism - he goes to characterize it as a "black thing"

3. Libertarianism

   • Political philosophy that advocates only minimal state intervention in the lives of citizens ("as much liberty as possible" and "as little government as necessary")
     • Founding father = Lao Tzu, who lived in 600 BC. Lao Tzu advised, “Without law or compulsion, men would dwell in harmony.”
       • Modern thinker = David Boaz, who said "In a sense there have always and ever been only two political philosophies: liberty and power. Either people should be free to live their lives as they see fit, as long as they respect the equal rights of others"
         • Ayn Rand's book 'The Fountainhead' influenced many towards Libertarianism