Free Will

Free Will

1. Hard Determinism

   • The belief that people have NO free will and all ethical actions have prior causes
     • Clarence Darrow: Argued that two murderers are not responsible for their actions because they were genetically and environmentally determined as well as influenced by their readings. "What has this boy got to do with it? He was not his own father; He was not his own mother"
     • Ted Honderich: Modern determinist! We have no choice, no moral responsibility. " Whatever I do I could not have done otherwise; I was determined" Claims that the very idea of free will is meaningless. "The mind is simply a product of bran activity" Not even a "self" to determine our actions.
     • John Locke: Moral choice is simply an illusion - We simply think we have free will but this is not the case.
       • Locked Room Analogy: Sleeping man is locked in a room while he is sleeping . On awakening he decides to stay in the room. Thinks this is his choice but in reality could not get out of the room in the first place.
     • Psychological determinists
       • Pavlov: Rang bell every time he fed dogs, after a while they began to salivate upon hearing the ringing bell. This is the result of a conditioned reflex. Shows how the environment can manipulate and therefore determine our behaviour
       • Skinner: OPERANT CONDITIONING. Changes in behaviour are the result of an individuals response to stimuli in nature. Aimed to provide a explanations for behavioural cognitive phenomena. E.g. explained drive in terms of deprivation and reinforcement schedules.
     • Scientific determinism
       • Newton:All theories of determinism are influenced by Newton. His theories of physics show that the Universe is governed by immutable laws. e.g. Gravity.
       • Laplace: Took Newtons ideas and argued that we could mkae any prediction as long as we know the influencing factors
       • Steven Pinker: Ideas of Darwin and Dawkins and took a natural selection angle. Moral reasoning is a result of natural selection. We have moral reasoning because it enables us to survive.
     • John Hospers: Robot approach. Always something internally or externally which compels us to act in certain ways. We think this is the result of free will. Clockwork orange, aversion therapy shit (can change peoples personality)

2. Libertarianism

   • The belief that determinism is wrong and people are free to make ethical decisions.
     • Jean Paul Satre: People actively determine their nature through their choices and actions. If you want complete freedom then full moral resposibility come with it."man is not free not to be free"
     • Peter Van Inwagen: Analogy of the road. Life is like a road which reaches a junction. You choose either left left or right. Hard determinism has no turning its just a long road
     • Heisenburg: Uncertainty principle: We cannot know the location and momentum of subatomic particles at the same time so we should statistical probability rather than forming general laws.

3. Soft determinism (Compatibilism)

   • Certain aspects of our nature are determine but our ability to make ethical decisions is not determined.
     • Kant: We are all free within our own will to unimpeded acts. Looking for causes of our actions outside of knowing and understanding our own will isn't rational. If we claim not to be free then we face the self awareness problem of who originates our actions.
     • David Hume: Every act has to be caused otherwise its chance, not freedom. SO, Freedom and determinism have to go together!
     • Hume: "By liberty,then, we can only mean a power of acting or not acting according to the determinations of the will"

4. Religious Determinism

   • All things are determined by a God or through the actions and events that surround us.
     • St Paul: God chooses who will be saved. Freedom is having the ability to choose to accept God into your life and overcome death and sin through the ressurection of Christ. Humans are free to choose how to live but their final destination is determined by God.
     • Jean Calvin: Influenced by Augustine and Paul. He says that everyone is judged by God, there's nothing anybody can do to change this destiny and even said that 95% of the human race is damned from the start. God's justice is beyond human comprehension. According to Calvin there is no free will.Calvin takes a hard determinist approach.
     • Augustine and all of his crap about the fall. PREDESTINATION - only those elected by God can achieve salvation. Should all live God fearing lives. He said there are three types of event. 1-Those that look like chance bc we don't know the cause. 2- Those caused by God. 3- Those caused by us.