Free Will and Determinism

Free Will and Determinism

1. Hard Determinism

   • Definition: the teaching that denies that humanity has free will and believes that all actions have a prior cause. It removes moral responsibility for actions.
   • Everything has a prior cause.
     • Removes moral respsonsiblity. = Good thing and bad thing
       • Scientific evidence supports this.
       • Would lead to people doing whatever they want and ruin the legal system as their would be no need for justification,
   • Darrow

2. Soft Determinsim

   • Definition: the teaching that says we can be both determined and free, as some of our moral choices are free but aspects of our nature are determined.
   • Hume
     • Main advocate for soft determinism.  Claims events are predetermined.  You cannot control create free choice; he calls this the Constant Union of Objects.  Hume claims that without these predetermined events we wouldn’t have free will.  Given the circumstances you have the option whether to do X, Y, or Z.  Hume names the link between the circumstances and our decision the “inference of the mind”. For example british passengers are prevented from flying back to England from Rome due to an Icelandic volcano, the passengers have the freewill to decide on what they do next, channel tunnel back to England or spend another week in Rome?

3. Libertarianism

   • Definition: This theory claims that we are morally responsible for all our actions and are free to make choices.
   • Thomas Reid
     • Common sense Philosophy. We are free to act even though we are restricted by nature we still make our own choices.
   • Issac Newton
     • Weakness of Libertarianism - Laws of Gravity. We are limited by nature. For example we can't just fly.
   • Strengths of libertarianism is that it allows people complete freedom and gives them a meaning to life however it could affect our motivation and society and lead to reckless behaviour.

4. Scientific Views

   • Social conditioning
   • Neuroscience
   • Genetic structures

5. Theological Views

   • Argue our actions must be predetermined.