Free Will and Determinism

Free Will and Determinism

1. Determinism

   • Hard Determinism
     • Does not believe humanity has free will at all and thinks that all actions have a prior cause
   • Soft Determinism
     • The belief that we can be both determined and free, some aspects are planned and others are not
     • Also known as compatibilism
   • Libertarianism
     • The belief that all of our actions are free and that we choose entirely what we do
   • Theological Determinism
   • Science and Determinism

2. Clarence Darrow's Views

   • Hard Determinist
   • Part of the Leob and Leopold trial
     • Believed they killed him because they were 'made that way'
     • Blamed their social, economic and environmental circumstances for the lack of morals
   • Are we predetermined by nature or nurture?
     • Nature: the basic or inherent features, character, or qualities of something:
     • Nurture: the fostering or overseeing of the development of something

3. Ted Honderich's Views

   • Hard Determinist
   • Different to Darrow as he is not concerned with how individuals are affected by certain situations
   • Believes that all our actions are a chain of events that we are not responsible for as they are already set into motion

4. John Locke's Views

   • The Analogy of the Sleeping Man
     • A sleeping man is locked in a room and when he wakes up he decides to stay in the room instead of leaving it, even though he does not want to leave the room he doesnt have the choice as it is locked
       • It is the ignorance of him thinking he has freedom that proves he actually doesn't

5. David Hume's Views

   • Soft Determinist
   • Believes events are determined by causal links between objects
     • Calls this causal link the Constant Union of Objects
   • The link between predetermined events and what you decide Hume calls the inference of the mind
     • You infer that, given the circumstances of the situation, you can do either, x, y or z.
   • Uses the illustration of the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption to demonstrate how some actions can be consdiered predetermined but some are spontaneous and done in the moment out of free will.
   • When you spontaneously make a decision it does not mean that it is not calculated or thought through, it is called the liberty of spontaneity according to Hume

6. Thomas Reid's Views

   • Considered a common sense philosophy and is centred on the idea the humans have complete free will
     • Although we may be limited by nature sometimes, free will is subject based meaning we have the freedom to follow through the choices we make
   • An illustration of this is that you might decided to help out a charity but you are limited by nature as you do not have money to spare
     • Despite this you are still able to help as you can try ther methods such as walking into the charity shop and asking what you can do to help, this is the common sense thing to do and therefore this allows humans to become morally resposible for their actions

7. Martin Luther's and Desiderius Erasmus's Views

   • Martin Luther believed that humans are controlled by the power of sin, we know what is right but we still fail to do it
   • Erasmus' argument was that despite the Fall of Man, people do still freedom and it is used for good moral acts

8. John Calvin's VIews

   • He believed that God predetermined all events as the majority were damned whereas a select few were chosen to be saved
     • Moses parting of the Red Sea saved all of the Israelites however the Great Army of Eygpt perished in the waters

9. Pyschology

   • Psychology applied with free will says that it is the electrical charges in our brain that can determine the behaviour we produce
   • The case of a glue sniffer found not guilty of murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, after he admitted the fatal stabbing of another youth, illustrates how neuroscience can lead to the idea that human beings are determined to behave in a certain way, and therefore not entirely responsible for their actions.
   • Clinical experiments on the brain reveal that when one half of the brain is starved of oxygen the person becomes more aggressive, whilst if the other half is starved the person becomes more rational and logical. As a result, it

10. Genetics

11. Environmental factors/ social conditioning