Soft Determinism

Soft Determinism

1. Human freedom and moral responsibility are far from being incompatible with determinism.

   • Freedom is incompatible with fatalism
   • Fatalism = The idea the everything is entirely determined by fate

2. Human freedom cannot be understood without determinism because our choice is one of the casual factors

   • Most human choices are a combination of external and internal causes
   • Internal causes lead to voluntary actions of free will, the results of ones own wishes or desires.
   • External causes lead to involuntary actions of compulsion, contrary to ones wishes or desires.

3. According to soft determinists, when we say a person acted freely, we mean they did not act under compulsion or external pressure

   • They acted as free agents
   • Define determinism as the liberty of spontaneity
   • The freedom to act according to ones nature, determined by external factors eg education or background

4. If someone's wishes are counted among the causes of their actions, then freedom is also compatible with moral responsibility

   • If someone could not have acted otherwise because of moral constraints, then the person is not morally responsible.
   • If someone could not have acted otherwise because of internal constraints then the action was a result of their doing and their character, emotions etc; they are not responsible for their action
   • If the action was a result of freely held desires and freely made decisions, then they are fully responsible
     • View of David Hume who said that every act had to be caused otherwise it was chance, not freedom, so freedom and determinism have to go together

5. Soft determinism does not combine hard determinism and libertarian positions

   • It does not limit free will and it accepts the issue of responsibility and punishment
   • Although this theory does not make it clear exactly what in life is determined, it states we do have free will and takes account of moral responsibility

6. EVALUATION

   • Agrees there is moral responsibility but does not believe in holding a person responsible for actions caused by emotions, beliefs etc. They have no choice in their emotions/beliefs
     • It is difficult, therefore, for a soft determinist do decide what is determined and what is a free choice
   • Accepts we do have a choice of alternatives.