Freewill & Determinism

Freewill & Determinism

1. Libertarianism (freewill)

   • our choices are completely free, we have moral responsiblity

2. Determinism

   • Hard determinism
     • Everything is determined before it happens, meaning that we are not morally responsible.
       • Locke
         • Locke believed that freewill is an illusion and we only believe that we have freedom of choice as we dont know the causes that lie behind out actions.
           • He explained this by using an analogy; the sleeping man analogy
             • Locke describes a man that is sleeping, while sleeping the man is moved into a room and the door is locked. when the man awakes he decides that he wants to stay in the room, he believes that he is making a choice but in actual fact the man cannot leave as the door is locked.
               • Locke is exaplaining that we believe that we can make choices, like the man in the analogy, but actaully there are things that we are unware of that control our actions, like the door being locked in the analogy, it meant the man didnt actually have a choice. like we dont have a choice in our lifes as there are unknown causes controlling our actions. we only believe that we are free.
       • Honderich
         • Believed that nothing happens without a reason. laws of physics control our choices. events are determined by what has already happened. we are simply part of a chain of events that we cannot escape.
           • Meaning that we are not morally responsible as the chain of events is already set in motion and we have no control.
           • "all our choices, decisions, intentions,other mental events and our actions are no more than an effects of other equally necessitated events.
       • Darrow
         • He believed that genetics and social conditioning cause our actions.
           • Darrow was a lawyer and successfully reduced two boys death sentence to life imprisonment, the two boys were guilty of killing an 14 year old boy. Darrow reduced the boys sentence by focusing on their lack of moral responsibility. tDarrow argued that the boys actions were the result of their upbringing and gentics.
             • Darrow believed that the boys shouldn't be punished as there gentics and their upbringing makes them who they are. There upbrining and gentics influenced why the boys were murders. the boys have no control over this and therefore can not be responsible for their actions.
               • Darrow said- " what has this boy to do with it? He was boy his own father; he was not his own mother: he was not his own grandparents. All of the was handed to him. He did not surround himself with governesses and wealth. He did not make himself. And yet he is compelled to pay."
         • James Rachels
           • Rachels would be a supporter of Darrow as he believed that are personality is 50% gentics and 50% upbringing( social conditions).
             • Supported by a Case study- two twins were raised by completely different families, one Nazi German and the other a Jewish family, but the boys still had similar personality traits, showing that genetics play a part in our personality and therefore partly determine our actions.
       • Voltaire
         • "Pear trees cannot bear bananas." - we are who we are and we cannot change this, its already determined.
   • Soft determinism
     • Determinism and freewill are compatible, we still have moral responsibility
   • Predestination
     • Determinism can also mean seen in some Christian views. Our actions in this life are irrelevant as God has already determined who will be saved and who won't be.
       • The idea of Predestination came about because of philosopher such as Augustine of Hippo and John Calvin.
         • Calvin