Hard Determinism

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What is hard determinism?

Hard determinism states that our behaviour is entirely the product of our upbringing, society or genetics, as well as other external factors. Since all these factors have an influence on our behaviour, hard determinists argue that we cannot have free will (or the ability/freedom to make our own decisions). Instead, they believe that our behaviour is not a result of our own choices, and so we cannot be held morally responsible for them. Some determinists may argue that our behaviour is pre-determined for us by a supernatural force such as God or the devil.

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More on Hard Determinism

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Influences on our behaviour

Influences such as:

school

our friends

mental health

upbringing and family

society - laws and social norms

can be separated into four categories: Genetics, Psychology, Social Conditioning and Environment

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The Case of Loeb and Leopold

A tragedy of three young lost lives, a dead fourteen-year-old victim and the imprisonment of two teenage killers, unfolded in Chicago in 1924.

Eighteen year old Richard Loeb and nineteen year old Nathan Leopold were convicted of murder, and were fiercely defended by Clarence Darrow, on the grounds that of 'diminished responsibility'.

Darrow's plea continued for 12 hours, in order to save his clients from the death penalty. Darrow's plea used a mixture of poetry and prose, scientific fact and emotive language in order to convince the judges that his clients should have life imprisonment instead of execution.

The case was called the 'trial of the century' as it challenged psychologists and law enforcement to reconsider crime and the influences of social conditioning.

Loeb's Background

Loeb was the son of a wealthy businessman, and was regarded as incredibly intelligent, being the youngest graduate ever of the University of Michigan.

Loeb was obsessed with crime. He read mainly detective stories, which influenced his planning and committing of crimes - none of which caused harm to another person until this case.

Darrow and Leopold later attributed this obsession as a form of rebellion against his strict, but well-meaning upbringing.

For Loeb, crime was a game, and he aimed to plan the perfect crime just to prove it could be done.

Leopold's Background

Leopold was interested in ornithology, philosophy, and in particular, Loeb.

He was the son of a wealthy millionaire box-manufacturer, who was studying at the University of Chicago at the time of the crime, and was planning to begin studies at Harvard Law School.

Leopold had become the nation's leading authority on the Kirtland warbler, an endangered songbird that he lectured on often.

Leopold's ideas were heavily influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy. Nietzsche criticised moral codes, and believed that moral obligations did not applt to those who approached 'the superman'.

Leopold's idea of the superman was his friend and lover, Richard Loeb.

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The Case of Hannah Bosner

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Behaviourism