Free will and Determinism Flashcards
1
Q
What is necessary if people are to be morally responsible for their actions?
A
We are only morally responsible for the actions we carry out freely and deliberately- actions that are freely chosen.
2
Q
What is determinism?
A
Determinism states that there are laws of nature which govern everything which happens and that all our actions are the result of these scientific laws and every choice we make was determined by the situation before it, and so on. Therefore freedom of choice is an illusion and nobody can be held morally responsible.
3
Q
Why does determinism make personal responsibility a difficult concept?
A
It is difficult to hold people morally and legally responsible if we are only responsible for actions we carry out freely.
4
Q
How does Greek tragedy reflect the view of determinism?
A
Often it reflects a fatalism view point ‘whatever will be will be’, where people are the helpless victims of circumstances, necessity and the Fates.
5
Q
What is predestination?
A
It is the belief that God has already decided who will be saved and who will not.
6
Q
Who helped formulated the doctrine of predestination?
A
Augustine of Hippo and John Calvin.
7
Q
What is predestination based on?
A
It is based on the idea that God determines whatever happens in history and that man only has a very limited understanding of God’s purposes and his plans.
8
Q
What is the difficulty with predestination?
A
The idea is not based on words or particular passages in the Bible but on ideas about revelation, and has to sit side by side with teachings about individual freedom and responsibility.
9
Q
What does Augustine say about predestination?
A
He claims that people need the help of God’s grace to do good, and this is a free gift from God, regardless of individual merit. Consequently, God alone determines who will receive the grace that assures salvation.
10
Q
Which churches still follow the pre-destination theory formulated by John Calvin?
A
Presbyterian.
11
Q
What does John Calvin say about predestination?
A
The belief says that as man is a complete sinner who is incapable of coming to God, and has a sinful free will that is only capable of rejecting God, then predestination must occur or nobody could be saved. God is in total control and people cannot do anything to achieve salvation.
12
Q
What quote did John Calvin say to highlight that people are not all created with a similar destiny?
A
‘Eternal life is fore-ordained for some, and eternal damnation for others. Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say, he is predestined to life or death.’
13
Q
What does predestination suggest about moral responsibility?
A
It suggests people have no free will as far as their ethical decisions are concerned. God has already made his choice about who will be saved independently of any qualities in the individual- he simply decides who will be saved because he can, and all the rest are left to go their natural way: hell. So people only do good because God made them that way, and put them in a certain environment, whilst the rest are limited by their nature and can only choose to be sinful. Logically then, we are not responsible for our actions.
14
Q
What does Baruch Spinoza say about Hard determinism?
A
‘In the mind there is no absolute or free will; but the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause, which has also been determined by another causes, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity.’
15
Q
What does Hard Determinism say?
A
All our actions had prior causes- we are neither free nor responsible.
16
Q
Why is Hard Determinism incompatible with free will?
A
It is incompatible with free will and moral responsibility because it claims all our actions are caused by prior causes, so therefore we are not free to act in any other way.
17
Q
What does Hard Determinism believe about punishment?
A
It rejects the idea of punishment for retribution, but it does not reject any other views about the justification of punishment; for example deterrence, self-defense, or moral education.
18
Q
What does John Hospers say about Hard Determinism?
A
He is a modern Hard Determinist, who says that there is always something which compels us both externally or internally to perform an action that we would think was the result of our own free will. He uses several psychoanalytical examples, and concludes “It is all a matter of luck.”
19
Q
What did Clarence Darrow do?
A
In 1924, Clarence Darrow successfully defended two young men, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, on a charge of murdering a young boy, Bobby Franks. He plea dd for the death penalty to be commuted to life imprisonment, as the two young murders were the products of their upbringing, their ancestry and their wealth environment.
20
Q
What did Clarence Darrow say when defending the two men?
A
‘What has this boy to do with it? He was not his own father; he was not his own mother; he was not his own grandparents. All of this was handed to him. He did not surround himself with governesses and wealth. He did not make himself. And yet he is to be compelled to pay.’
21
Q
What did Clarence Darrow say about punishment?
A
‘Punishment as punishment is not admissible unless the offender has the free will to select his course.’
22
Q
What do modern versions of Hard Determinism point to as prior causes?
A
Our genetic heritage, social conditioning, or subconscious influences. The most extreme modern version of hard determinism is behaviorism.
23
Q
What did John B. Watson say about psychological behaviorism?
A
He suggested that behaviour can be predicted and controlled, as people live and act in a determined universe so that all human behaviour, including ethical decisions, is controlled by prior causes, which are in principle knowable.
24
Q
What did John B. Watson say influenced behaviour?
A
Heredity and environmental factors. By manipulating the environment people’s behaviour can be altered. This idea is called ‘conditioning’ and is influenced by the work of Ivan Pavlov.
25
What is operant conditioning?
It is a method of learning that occurs through reward and punishment for behaviour and is typically assigned to B.F. Skinner.
26
What did B.F. Skinner claim?
He claimed that as behavioural science develops, and pyschologists learn to determine and control human behaviour, it is highly probabale that human behaviour is not free but most likely determined.
27
Who did Steven Pinker base his ideas of determinism off of?
He looked at the ideas of Darwin, developed recently by Richard Dawkins, that emotions such as guilt, anger, sympathy and love all have a biological basis.
28
What theory did Steven Pinker develop?
He developed the theory that our moral reasoning is a result of natural selection but he claims that this does not mean the end of moral responsibility. Evolution might, for example, predispose men to violence or to sleeping around, but this does not necessitate or excuse such behavior.
29
What did Steven Pinker say about our morality?
He said that there is a moral sense innate in us, and so is 'as real for us as if it were decreed by the almighty or written into the cosmos.'
30
What are all theories of determinism influenced by?
Isaac Newton's physics, according to which the universe is governed by immutable laws of nature such as motion and gravitation. The world is seen as mechanism dominated by the law of predictable cause and effect.
31
Why is free will only an illusion according to determinism?
We may appear to have moral choices, but we only think we choose freely because we do not know the causes that lie behind our choices.
32
What analogy does John Locke come up with to illustrate the illusion of free will?
He describes a man in a locked room; on awakening he decides to stay where he is, not realizing that the door to the room is locked. The man thinks that he has made a free decision, but in reality he has no choice. So it is with our moral choices- we think we make free decisions simply because we do not know the causes.
33
What did Paul-Henri Thiry (Baron) d'Holback believe?
He believed that humans and human society and actions can all be understood in terms of cause and effects- freedom is once again an illusion.
34
What analogy does Paul-Henri Thiry (Baron) d'Holback give about free will?
'You will say that I feel free. This is an illusion, which may to compared to that of the fly in the fable, who, upon the pole of a heavy carriage, applauded himself for directing its course. Man, who thinks himself free, is a fly who imagines he has power to move the universe, while he is himself unknowingly carried along by it. '
35
What did Ted Honderich say about determinism?
He claimed that since everything is physically determined, there is no chocie and so no personal responsibly; there is not even any 'self' within us that is the origin of our actions- the mind is a by-product of brain activity, and actions are caused by pyschoneural events involving both mind and brain. According to Honderich, there is no room for moral blame and no point in punishment for the sake or punishment. There is no free will.
36
What is Libertarianism?
The belief that determinism is false and people are free to make moral choices and so are responsible for their actions.
37
What does Libertarianism say?
They say that the ideas of cause and effect cannot be applied to human behaviour and choices; we do have freedom to act and we are morally responsible for our actions as we are not compelled to act by outside forces but that moral actions are the result of the values and character of the individual.
38
What is the most common arguement for libertarianism?
It appeals to our intuitions- we see ourselves as free agents, able to make moral choices, not as puppets on a string. Unlike puppets we have a mind, and it seems reasonable to conclude that having a mind is necessary in order to have free will.
39
What analogy does Peter Van Inwagen use to describe libertarianism?
He uses the analogy of choosing which branch to go down when traveling along a road, whereas determinism is like traveling along a road with no branches- we cannot choose a different way, or reach a different destination.
40
Why do Libertarians argue that we do 'make our actions'?
We make our actions because we could have chosen to do something else. This is clear, because when asked to defend our actions we blame ourselves, or wonder if we did the right thing- we evaluate our action by asking ourselves whether, at that time we could have acted differently. We would only do this if we believed we had alternative ways of acting.
41
How is modern physics used to support libertarianism?
It is not the case that all events have a cause; Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, which says that we cannot know both the location and the momentum of subatomic particles at the same time, suggest that it is better to refer to statistical probabilities, rather than simple causation.
42
Why does Ted Honderich reject the claims of quantum physics?
He rejects the claims of quantum physics as they only apply at the subatomic level; it is certainly not true to think that quantum physics refutes Newtonian mechanics- it is more accurate to say that it qualifies Newton's view and puts his theories in a broader context.
43
Why is the principle of causality actually presupposed when considering freedom?
The opposite of causality is randomness. A universe in which there are random events is not one in which we have free will. Behaviour caused by a random event is no more freely chosen than behaviour completely determined by the laws of Newtonian physics. For free choices to be real, a person must be able to cause the events he chooses. If all human actions take place independently of any cause at all, including the will of the individual, then there is no genuine freedom.
44
What is seen to be the goal of moral action with libertarianism?
The idea of freedom is seen as a goal of moral action- even if our freedom is limited, we show our freedom in our aim to be free and act freely.
45
What does Jean-Paul Sartre believe about freedom in terms of libertarianism?
Freedom is both the goal and the measure of our lives- from nothing man makes himself what he chooses. Freedom in an end in itself, and it does not matter what a person chooses as long as he chooses freely. To be free is to have a humanly fulfilling life.
46
What does Jean-Paul Sartre say of people who try to avoid freedom?
A person may try to avoid freedom; then he is guilty of mauvaise foi and just conforms to what is decided by others. He sees life as ultimately absurd, meaningless, and without any reason why an individual exists or chooses to do one thing rather than another.
47
What is mauvaise foi?
he phenomenon where a human being under pressure from societal forces adopts false values and disowns their innate freedom to act authentically.
48
What quote does Jean-Paul Sartre have on freedom?
'To be free is to be condemned to be free.'
49
What is soft determinism?
The belief that determinism is true in many aspects,but we are still morally responsible for our actions.
50
Why is free will not compatible with fatalism?
Fatalism, 'what ever will be will be', says that nobody can change the course of events.
51
What is fatalism?
the philosophical and sometimes theological doctrine that specific events are fixed in advance (either by God or by some unknown means) although there might be some free play in minor events.
52
Why is free will compatible with determinism according to soft determinism?
It is compatible with determinism, a theory of universal causation, if we include our own values, choices and desires among the choices that determine our actions.
53
Why do soft determinists argue that all human actions are caused?
If human actions were not causes, they would be unpredictable and random.
54
What do soft determinists mean when they say that all actions are free?
They mean that when an individual's actions are free, they are not forced or compelled by external pressures. They clarify what is meant by free; we are not free to fly using our own bodies, as this is to misuse the word free and change it from meaning 'being able to choose', to being 'physically able to do.'
55
How could soft determinism be linked to physics?
Perhaps we live in an inderministic universe that is not completely described by modern physics because there are some events (e.g. human behaviours) which are not determined and not random either. After all, who knows what physics will be like in the next few decades?
56
What did Immanuel Kant believed that Determinism applied to?
He believed that determinism applied to everything which was the object of knowledge, but not to acts of will.
57
What two points did he think people worked from?
The theoretical (pure reason) and the practical (practical reason).
58
What is theoretical (pure reason)?
This concerns knowledge, the mind and the way wee see the scientifically explicable world.
59
What is practical (practical reason)?
It concerns actions, the will, and the way we see ourselves.
60
Where does our theoretical and our practical reason reside?
In the Noumenal realms. They are the laws of reason.
61
What two realms did Kant claim existed?
The phenomenal, and the Noumenal. We are citizens of both.
62
What is the Phenomal realm?
It is the natural world, which is explained by science and is assumed to be determined by the laws of nature.
63
What is the Noumenal realm?
It is the realm of ideas and the abstract (separate from the five senses). It is where morality and responsibility resides, and is assumed to be free. The laws of reason (our theoretical and practical reason) operate here.
64
Why does Immanuel Kant argue that we must our moral choices must be free?
He argues that we cannot look rationally for causes of our actions beyond a genuine act of our will. When we act we always think of ourselves as free, and he claims that freedom is a postulate of practical reason. He argues that our own self-awareness, without which the world would not make sense to us, forces on us the idea that we are free, so we cannot get rid of the idea that we are free without ceasing to see ourselves as the originator of our actions.
65
Why is soft determinism not a compromise between determinist and libertarian positions?
It is not a compromise,a s it does not limit free will, but is a position taken due to the need to have some accountability and responsibility for human behaviour.
66
What does soft determinists say about moral responsibility?
We are morally responsible for, and can reasonable be punished and praised for, those actions which are caused by our own desires and decisions.
67
What does David Hume say on liberty?
We choose what we want to do. 'By liberty, we can mean a power of acting or not acting according to the determinations of the will; that is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may.'
68
What do soft determinists say about the complex nature of humans?
Our own values, desires and prior choices can determine how we act in certain situations, but these actions are so complex and numerous that the effect they have on our decisions do not determine a precise or specific action.
69
What parts of the Bible suggest we have free will?
In Genesis, Adam and Eve use their freewill in order to eat from the tree of knowledge and they are not compelled to do so.
70
What is the problem with freewill and an omniscient God?
God is believed to be all-knowing, this means that God must know what choice we are going to make before we make them. Therefore God must have determined our choices in the past.
71
What does St paul say in link to predestination?
In his letter to the Romans he wrote 'For those that God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be firstborn among all brothers. And those he predestined he also called; those he called, he also put right with himself; those he put right with himself, he also glorified.'
72
What does Freud's theory say in terms of determinism?
Freud believed that our early years have an immense impact on our actions in the future. His theory suggests that prior causes determine our moral development and therefore our actions in the future.
73
What is social conditioning?
People think and act in line with their social conditioning rather than through genetic determined factors or a real freedom of choice, therefore human action must have distinct social cause. If we are socially determined, then all our actions are caused by something within society; our upbringing, our education, our social situation etc. The theory suggests our social learning and placement is what determines our actions.
74
What issue does genetics have with moral responsibility?
Genes play a major role in our decisions. We can once again not be held morally responsible if we are acting according go our genes, so can neither be praised or blames for our actions.
75
What effect could the environment have on our decisions?
Environmental determinism suggests that geography and climate influence individuals more than social conditioning. Historically our climate is said to affect the behaviour of society. If this is the case then the weather and the environment can affect and possibly determine our actions.
76
What is compatibilism?
The belief that it is possible to be both free and determined, as some aspects of our nature are determined, but not our ability to make moral decisions.
77
What is incompatibilism?
The belief that determinism is logically incompatible with free will. Some incompatibilists will say determinism is a fact, and free will is an illusion, whilst some take the opposite view.
78
What is an autonomous moral agent?
Someone who can make a moral decision freely; someone who is totally responsible for their actions.
79
What does 'Ought implies can' mean?
The idea that someone cannot be blamed for what they could not do, but only for what they were capable of doing but did not do.
80
What example does Hospers give from a hard determinist view point?
Let us suppose it were established that a man commits murder only if, sometime during the previous week, he has eaten a certain combination of foods...What if we were to track down the factors common to all murders committed in this country during the last twenty years and found this factor present in all of them, and only in them? The example is of course empirically absurd; but may it not be that there is some combination of factors that regularly leads to homicide?
Someone commits a crime and is punished by the state; ‘he deserved it,’ we say self-righteously—as if we were moral and he immoral, when in fact we are lucky and he is unlucky—forgetting that there, but for the grace of God and a fortunate early environment, go we.
81
What does Ted Honderich say on compatilism and incompatilism?
Honderich sounds like an incompatilist, but he actually claims that the very idea of free will is meaningless, so it doesn't make any sense to claim that free will is incompatible with determinism. He says both compatibilism and incompatibilism are incoherent and meaningless.
82
What did Einstein think about Quantum physics?
Einstein himself thought that we would one day find the laws that govern quanta, and that 'God does not play dice'. The world he looked at, even from his unique perspective, was still one where every event was causally determined.
83
What quote does John B Watson say about classical conditioning?
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.
84
What is the difference between Watson's appraoch to conditioning and Skinner's?
BF Skinner's approach is more credible than Watson's. Watson tried to show that you could control a child's behaviour using fear, but Skinner did not agree. Instead, we need to use incentives. Many modern economists have followed in Skinner's footsteps, explaining human behaviour in terms of our response to incentives
85
What two things must be in place for us to be able to make free decisions?
we do not already know what we are going to do
| it is in our power to do what we are thinking of doing
86
What example does Michael Palmer give about necessary and contingent truths in terms of libertarianism?
He gives the example of three runners. A is faster than B, B is faster than C. What would happen if they raced? The answer is that we cannot know for certain - when we say "A is faster than B" this is a contingent truth. It means that in the past, A has run faster than B. It doesn't mean that A will necessarily run faster than B in the future.
87
What point was Michael Palmer making about contingent and necessary truths in terms of Libertarianism?
The argument here is that contingent truths about the world make the future unpredictable. Something may actually happen in the future (A may actually beat B), but that doesn't mean it necessarily had to happen. We cannot know the future from contingent predictions.
88
What distinction does compatibilists make on free and coerced decisions?
A compatibilist, who believes that determinism and free will are compatible, would draw a distinction between actions caused or determined by our personalities ('free' actions) and actions with external causes (where we are 'co-erced')
89
What does David Hume say as a soft determinist?
He is saying that all things are necessary. He dismisses the idea that some things are uncaused or happen as the result of mere chance . He also believes we are free. Hume goes on to say that we don't blame people for things they do ignorantly, and blame them less for things that are not premeditated. In fact, any sense of moral blame can only come if something we do is the result of our character. Free will, and moral responsibility, require determinism.
90
What did Ancient philosophers believe about our free will?
They saw a distinction between the body and soul, and reason was our most important feature. Plato spoke of the irrational and rational parts of the soul. He also spoke of appetites and reason. Self-mastery consists of the appetite being subject to reason. Ancient philosophers believed that we can choose among alternatives.
91
What did the Argentine fabulist, Jean Luis Borges say about free will?
He wrote that the future is a garden of forking paths. In philosophical terms he was speaking about the importance of deciding on your future pathway and carrying it out. He did recognize however that we are subject to differing and conflicting types of motivation.
92
What did Peter Van Inwagen claim was the single most important argument for free will?
that the "Single most important argument for free will is morality depends on it."
93
What is causal determinism?
The doctrine that everything is, in principle, predictable and explainable in advance so that everything flows from causal sequences that originally began outside human agents.
94
What did Nicholas Jolley say of the problem which worried 17th century philosophers?
If the human mind was just the brain and it operated more or less in a biomechanical way there would be no room for: human spontaneity, creativity, freedom of action.
95
What did Sigmund Freud offer as causes of actions?
He offered unconscious, psychological desires, compulsions, and neurotic motivations as the real causes of behaviour which people think they choose freely.
96
What did John Paul Sartre's existentialism propose?
That people actively determined their nature through choices and actions "Being condemned to be free man carries the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. He is responsible for the world and himself as a way of being."
97
What does Daniel Dennett believe?
He is a champion of the materialist view. Humans, he believes, are evolved machines. There is nothing more to the mind than the workings of the brain. But, he also regards free will as real and important.
98
What does Daniel Dennett write about free will?
"Human freedom is not an illusion; it is an objective phenomenon, distinct from all other biological conditions and found in only one species, us." Since human freedom is real, so it can be studied objectively from a no-nonsense, scientific point of view.'
99
How did Hobbes define a free agent?
It depends on a person's will. You are able to do something if you would do it, or you decide to do it. Nick Jolly explains that Hobbes believed that the kind of freedom necessary for moral responsibility is compatible with determinism.- "liberty and necessity are consistent."
100
What do contemporary compatablists say is necessary for an agent to be free?
They have added that internal obstacles could also prevent us from acting freely; hence, an agent is free if they express their real values, their real desires, or their real self.
101
How have people interpreted Kant's ideas of two worlds?
Some have interpreted his ideas literally, whilst others have interpreted it as the claim that we can look at our world in two different ways. What you could say is the laws of reason are different from the laws of nature.
102
How is freedom defined?
Freedom is defined as that amount which is required to be morally responsible, to be in control of our actions, the origin of our actions, the author of our actions.
103
What did Schopenhauer say?
"A man can surely do what he wills to do, but he cannot determine what he wills."
104
What does Peter Van Invagen say in regards to great decisions?
He speaks of our ability to make choices in regard to great choices. He speaks of making choices between incommensurate values when there is a strong desire to do each thing.
105
What is asceticism?
The constant action of nullifying the will itself and is the voluntary renunciation of physical comfort and gratification.
106
How does ignorance relate to moral responsibility?
If you perform an action that has an unpredictable, immoral effect then you are not blameworthy. If however you make an immoral action knowingly, or without taking appropriate checks than it can be considered negligence and is therefore immoral.
107
How does intent relate to moral responsibility?
We punish criminals who intend to commit their crimes more heavily than those who commit unplanned crimes. If someone isn't in control of their actions due to a disorientating influence, than they aren't entirely morally responsible for their actions, but they are to an extent.
108
What is the traditional Judeo-Christian view in regards to morality?
That human beings are free, autonomous agents responsible for their acitons.
109
What did Thomas Aquinas write about freedom?
"Man chooses not of necessity but freely" (Summa Theologica)
110
Where does the view of predestination originate from?
St Paul's letter to the Romans. "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son."
111
What does Augustine's writing on the Divine Election say? (what does it suggest?)
"The potter has authority over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for contempt" (predestination)
112
How does the protestant reformer John Calvin describe predestination?
"The eternal decree of God, by which he determined that he wished to make of every man. For he does not create everyone in the same condition, but ordains eternal life for some and eternal damnation for others"
113
How does Ted Honderich summarise Hard Determinism?
"All our choices, decisions, intentions, other mental events, and our actions are no more than effects of other equally necessitated events."
114
What is the Newtonian view?
That all physical objects, living or otherwise, must exist in accordance with natural laws.
115
What did Clarence Darrow say about the moral responsibility of criminals?
Darrow thought that criminals should still be sent to prison to protect society, but argued in court that it should not be assumed that they are responsible for their actions.
116
Who does the law consider as having 'diminished responsibility?'
The law considers people who have limited control over their actions because of extreme psychological, or emotional difficulties as having 'diminished responsibility.'
117
What are the issues with Hard Determinism?
- we can neither praise not blame people for their actions
- we can't deliberate rationally
- The idea of freedom becomes an illusion
- How can we punish people if they are not free to commit their actions?
118
How do Libertarians argue against Determinism?
They claim that determinists confuse things that are necessarily true with those that are contingently true (true depending on the circumstances). They argue that a mechanical view of the world is incorrect.
119
Why do writers on Quantum mechanics challenge the mechanistic approach?
"A fundamental concept in quantum mechanics is that of randomness or indeterminacy. In general, the theory predicts only the probability of a certain result."
120
What do incompatibilists believe?
That free will is incompatible with determinism.
121
How does David Hume describe liberty?
"By liberty than, we can only mean a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will; that is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may." (An enquiry concerning human understanding)
122
What do libertarians believe that moral actions result from?
The values and character of the moral agent.
123
What does C.A. Campbell write about moral responsibility?
"Here, and here alone, so far as I can see, in the act of deciding whether to put forth or withhold the moral effort required to resist temptation and rise to duty, is to be found an act which is free in the sense required for moral responsibility; an act of which the self is sole author, and of which it is true to say that 'it could be' (or, after the event, 'could have been#)
124
What did Benedict Spinoza write in regards to freedom?
"Men think themselves free on account of this alone, that they are conscious of their actions and ignorant of the causes."
125
How does Locke explain his idea of free will being illusion?
A man, in a locked room which he does not know is locked, choosing to remain where he was and thinking he has chosen freely, without knowing that it was the only choice he could make.
126
How do Determinists argue against Libertarianism?
Libertarians claim that when people spend a long time deliberating over possible choices, it is evedent of their frredom to choose. However, in the end we make a decision. Determinists would claim that this is inevitable and we would have come to this decision, because of the background causes.
127
What are the criticisms of Libertarianism?
- It doesn't explain human action, yet surely our actions are caused by something?
- It is difficult to show that there are no causes beyond our control, in the same way it is difficult to show how one thing causes another
- They don't account for human motive, which is caused by something.
128
What do soft determinists consider freedom to be?
Freedom to act is acting voluntarily, and not out of coercion.
129
How do libertarians claim that some of our actions are determined yet we are still free?
Some of our actions are conditioned, whilst others have so complex a collection of causes that they may properly be described as freely decided or willed. We may be constrained by external circumstances to certain forms of behaviour.
130
Why do hard determinists criticise soft determinism?
They criticised it for failing to realise the extent to which human freedom is limited.
131
Why do libertarians criticise soft determinism?
For failing to realise the true extent of moral freedom.
132
What is it necessary for soft determinists to agree on and why is this difficult?
They have to agree on precisely what is and what isn't a determining factor. The complexities of physics, genetics and psychology make this hard to determine.
133
How does Aristotle distinguish between a voluntary and an involuntary act?
"An involuntary act being one performed under compulsion or as the result of ignorance, a voluntary act would seem to be one of which the origin or efficient cause lies in the agent, he knowing the particular circumstances in which he is acting."
134
What does A. J. Ayer say about moral responsibility?
"If it is an accident, then it is merely a matter of chance that I did not choose otherwise; and if it is merely a matter of chance that I did not choose otherwise, it is surely irrational to hold me morally responsible for choosing as I did. But if it is not an accident that I choose to do one thing rather than another, then presumably there is some causal explanation of my choice: and in that case we are led back to determinism."
135
What does Frances S. Collins say on genetic determinism?
"A new and dangerous brand of genetic determinism is subtly invading our culture. Carried to its extreme, this Genes R U mentality would deny the value of social interventions to maximise individual potential, destabilize man of our institutions (perhaps especially the criminal justice system) and even deny the existence of free will."
136
What are the strengths of hard determinism?
- Supported by classical physics which is deterministic.
- Offers an explanation for the cause of morality
- Universe is either random or caused, both imply free will is an illusion
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What are the weaknesses of Hard Determinism?
- We would not be able to blame or praise people for their actions
- Punishment for the sake of punishment would be unjust and pointless
- Modern quantum physics is not deterministic
- If there is no free will, then there is no inherent worth
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What does Spinoza say about Hard Determinism?
"The mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause which has also been determined by another cause, and this last by another cause, and so on to infinity."
139
What does Clarence Darrow say about Hard Determinism in his court case?
"He did not make himself, yet he is compelled to pay."
140
What does D' Hobach say about Hard Determinism?
You will say I feel free. This is an illusion.
141
What does Locke say about Hard Determinism?
"Free will is an illusion."
142
What are the strengths of predestination?
- supports the idea of an omnipotent and omniscience God
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What are the weaknesses of predestination?
- Contradicts ideas of an omnibenevolent God
- To punish those who did not have a choice, is immoral and unjust
- Genesis story says a choice of freewill was made
- It is contrary to the biblical teaching of free will
144
What does St Paul say about predestination?
"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son"
145
What does St Augustine say about predestination?
"Will any man pleasure to say that God did not foreknow those to who he would grant belief."
146
What are the strengths of Soft Determinism?
- Acknowledges that moral responsibility is important in our society
- Quantum physics and modern science seems to suggest that some things are deterministic but other things aren't
- Does not rule out free will
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What are the weaknesses of Soft determinism?
- There is no agreement of what precisely is and is not a determining factor
- Criticised by hard determinists for failing to realise the extent to which human freedom is limited
- Criticised by libertarians for failing to realise the degree of which freedom exists
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What does Thomas Hobbes say about Soft Determinism?
"Liberty and necessity are consistent"
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What does Kant say about Soft Determinism?
"For the cause of actions you can look no further than the will itself."
150
What are the strengths of libertarianism?
- Heisenberg's uncertainty principle seems to imply determinism is false
- Scientists agree that not every event is caused
- Recognises that people have a sense of decision making
- Personal responsibility underpins our whole systems of ethics and law
151
What are the weaknesses of Libertarianism?
- The opposite of causality is randomness, which still limits our freedom
- It does not consider morality, which has a cause of sorts
- It does not state what criteria someone uses to make a decision
152
What does R Taylor say about libertarianism?
"I deliberate in order to decide what to do, not to discover what it is I am going to do"
153
What does Jean-Paul Sartre say about libertarianism?
"To be free is to be condemned to be free."
154
What did Kant argue in Critique of Pure Reason?
There is a difference between things as we experience them, and things as they really are.
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What is the phenomena world?
Things as we experience them. Everything in the world of the phenomena is determined, as our minds try to find reasons for everything. In order to make sense of the world, we impose an order, or causality, on things that we experience.
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What is the noumena world?
Things as they are in reality. When we experience them, our minds impost order on the events that we perceive.
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What did Kant believe about the experience of moral law?
He believed that the experience of the moral law leads to an awareness of moral freedom.
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What does Kant believe about moral responsibility?
If we perceive someone acting morally, we impose an order on the events that we perceive. Through the imposing of order and causality, we can explain the actions in terms and conditioning. Kant believed that we are phenomenally conditions (I.e. outside observers can see the cause of our actions) and noumenally free.
159
Why do libertarians argue that determinism must be false?
Because we experience freedom of choice. When we are confronted by a moral dilemma, we are aware of different alternatives as well as of past experience. Since we are aware that we can choose to act whatever our past experiences were, determinism must be false.
160
What did J.S. Mill argue about libertarians?
He argued that we only experience a memory of past events. In some of those events we chose one route, and in some we chose another. In every case, we followed our strongest motive- and we will do so in the present case.
161
What did Augustine of Hippo say about pre-destination?
In De libero arbitrio, Augustine argued that God's foreknowledge does not deprive us of freedom. God foreknows what each human will freely choose. However, Augustine appeared to contradict his own view when he argued that the only way to salvation is through grace alone.
162
What does Beothius say about God's foreknowledge?
God's foreknowledge is outside of time. Human knowledge is rooted in causality. God's knowledge is from beyond time, and Is not based on the same causality. God's omniscience is beyond the confines of his linear knowledge. This supports both freedom and divine providence.
163
How does self-consciousness relate to free will?
With the emergence of self-consciousness, the person moves beyond the animal and purely instinctive. This heightened existence requires a new language to describe it- this includes the notion of free will. Self consciousness includes that capacity to love, to be creative, and to make moral choices.
164
Why is self-consciousness incompatible with the determinist model?
The determinist view can be seen as being purely mechanistic- human existence, with its capacity for self-awareness, love and creativity, is incompatible with a determinist model.
165
What did John Calvin teach about predestination?
He taught that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. A logical extension of this belief is that God already knows which humans will be welcomed into heaven, and which will go to hell. Clearly, it if is already decided (or predestined) who will go to heaven, then humans have no moral choice.
166
What is John Calvin most closely associated with?
Calvinism, the protestant theological movement that emphasise:
- The sovereignty of God
- The goodness of creation
- The authority of scripture
- The sinfulness of humanity
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What did St Augustine say about predestination?
"Will any man presume to say that God did not foreknow those to whom he would grant belief?... This is the predestination of saints; namely, the foreknowledge and planning of God's kindness, by which they are surely delivered."
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What does one of the 39 articles of Faith of the Church of England say about predestination?
"Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ and out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. "
169
What is Pelagianism?
The belief that human beings can achieve salvation through their own actions.
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What is Libertarianism?
The term given to the belief that we can choose to act despite past events, cultural, environmental conditioning and biological influence.
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Why do Libertarianism argue that our actions have moral significance?
Because they are affected by our character, the values that we hold, and our beliefs.
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What are compatibilists?
People who believe that the freedom to make moral choices is compatible with determinism- Soft determinism. Some compatibilists go further and argue that determinism has no effect on moral decision making.
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What are incompatibilists?
People who believe that determinism denies the possibility of moral responsibility.
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How do libertarianism distinguish between types of action and between types of causes?
Human experience freedom in ethical decision making, even if they are physically restrained.
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Why do Libertarians argue that people have the freedom to choice, even if they are predisposed?
People might come from a background that predisposes them to a life of crime, but they still experience the freedom to choose. It may be that their conscience tells them that an action is wrong, or even simply that they are aware that society disapproved. They can still choose.
176
What does G.E. Moore say in relation to libertarianism?
"I am free in performing an action if I could have done otherwise if I had chosen to do so."
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What does Ted Honderich argue?
That the compatibilists/non-compatibilist debate is based on a failure to define the term freedom properly. Determinism does not negate freedom completely- certain kinds of feelings and personal attitudes can remain. However, certain attitudes and responses based on origination will be impossible to maintain if determinism is true.
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What is origination?
The term used to refer to the creation by free human choice of new chains of cause and effect.
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What has Libertarianism been criticised for?
Failing to provide an adequate explanation for the actions that humans take. It argues that humans can make moral decisions that are independent of previous 'chains of cause and effect', yet it does not take into account the importance of precedence and past experience. Our actions must be caused by something.
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What has hard determinism been criticised for confusing?
Things that are necessarily true, and things that are contingently true. Some events are inevitable- they are pre-determined. Determinists treat the factors that influence a person's behaviour as necessary truths. Statements regarding the influence a person's background has over their behaviour are contingent truths.
181
What does hard determinism rely on?
The world being completely predictable.
182
What is the problem with hard determinism seeing the world as predictable?
The universe is not as mechanistic as some scientists belief. Recent developments in quantum physics have begun to consider the possibility of randomness in the universe- at best we can only speak of the probability of an event.
183
What is chaos theory?
This theory proposes that there is apparently random behaviour within a determinist system. This is not due to a lack of laws, but to minute and unmeasurable variations in the initial conditions affecting the outcome of an event.
184
What does soft determinism say?
This view holds that there is an element of determinism in human actions, but we should take moral responsibility for our actions. Some of our actions are conditioned, but to argue that all are actions are determined would be to argue a form of reductionism. Within the complex web of environmental, social and genetic prior events, there is a limited amount of choice for human beings.
185
What does Hard Determinism say?
This I the view that all our actions are completely governed by previous events. All actions stand at the end of a complex network of prior causes, including sociological, psychological, religious, political and cultural influences. The world runs to strictly applicable natural laws.
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How is determinism supported by our world?
- Observable events are subject to the laws of nature
- Scientific knowledge is based on the premise that events can be predicted by past events
- Mel Thompson argues that Meteorology is based on observation of cause and effects, and involves the making of predictions based on these observations
- Most events are brought about my a chain of previous events that contribute to the situation
- The police devote considerable resources to "accident investigation", trying to discover the causes of incidents.
- Psychology and sociology, looks at past events to understand a person's behaviour.
- Darwin's theory of evolution is a mechanistic process.
187
What does Honderich say about hard determinism about our choices?
"all our choices, decisions, intentions, other mental events, and our actions are no more than effects of other equally necessitated events."
188
How has determinism been used in criminal cases?
As a justification for a lesser punishment when it is demonstrated that the accused was in full control of themselves (such as diminished responsibility)
189
How does soft determinism describe volunteer actions?
There is such a complex collection of causes that they may properly be described as freely decided or willed.
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What does A J Ayer argue about determinism?
That actions are either determined or not: "Either it is an accident that I choose to act as I do or it is not. If it is an accident, then it is merely a matter of chance that I did not choose otherwise; and if it is merely a matter of chance that I did not choose otherwise, it is surely irrational to hold me morally responsible for choosing as I did. But if it is not an accident that I choose to do one thing rather than another, then presumably there is some causal explanation of my choice, and in that case we are led back to determinism.
191
What is social conditioning?
The sociological phenomenological process of inheriting tradition and gradual cultural transmutation passed down through previous generations. It is something that homogenizes a large amount of people into a certain distinctive mold.
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Why do soft determinists agree that all human actions are caused but are actions are still free?
They do believe that all actions are caused, as long as you include emotions, values, desires and our own choices as a causing factor; but we can still implement control over these things. Therefore we are free, as although our behaviour could be predictable, it is still within out control.
193
What distinction did Kant make and how does this help the soft determinist position?
He made a distinction between pure reason and practical reason. Pure reason is determined as it is an object of knowledge, but practical reason cannot be determined by anything other than an act of our own will. This supports the belief that we are free and morally responsible, whilst leaving aspects of events as determined.
194
What is determinism?
The view that every event has a cause and so, when applied to moral decisions, we do not have free will
195
What does theological determinism believe?
That there is a causal chain that can be traced back to an uncaused causer: God.
196
Why did St Paul thought God had the right to choose who was saved and who was not?
Because no one deserves salvation.
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What did St Paul see freedom as?
Having the ability to choose to follow God and overcome sin and death through the resurrection of God.
198
What did St Paul see faith as?
As a gift from God, freely offered to all: humans are free to accept it and may live their lives how they choose, but their final destination is determined by God.
199
Why did St Augustine believe that Human will is corrupt?
Human will is totally corrupt as a result of the Fall and nobody can perform a good action without the grace of God to help.
200
What three types of events did Augustine believe existed?
Those caused by Chance (we don't know the cause), those caused by God, and those that we cause ourselves. Some things we cannot control such as death, but how we live our lives is within our control.
201
If Augustine believed in predestination, why did he believe everyone should lead a good life?
Because only the chosen and elected by God will be saved and, as it is not possible to know how has been chosen, all must live good lives.
202
Why are both the views of St Paul and St Augustine similar to those of soft determinism/
because they both show the difference between internal and external causes (we are free in certain cases, but things are still determined)
203
Who argued that St Paul was preaching pre-destination and on what basis?
John Calvin, as the destination of everyone is determined by God on the basis of his foreknowledge and that God determines whatever happens in history and that man has only a very limited understanding of God's purposes and plans.
204
What does John Calvin believe about predestination?
that man is a complete sinner who is incapable of coming to God, then predestination must occur or nobody could be saved. God is in total control and people cannot do anything to achieve salvation. People are not all created with a similar destiny.
205
What did John Hospers believe about hard determinism?
He is a modern hard determinist, who says that there is always something which compels us both externally and internally to perform an action that we would think was the result of our own free will. He uses several psychoanalytic examples to make his point and concludes: "It is all a matter of luck"
206
Who first discussed psychological behaviourism?
John B Watson
207
Who influenced the idea of conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov
208
What did Ivan Pavlov do?
He conditioned dogs to salivate when they heard the sound of bells.
209
Who is operant conditioning most often linked to?
B.F. Skinner
210
What did B.F. Skinner do?
He investigated behaviour modification through reward and punishment.
211
What did Laplace and other followers of Newton believe?
In the all-pervasive power of causality, and thought that the minutest prediction could be made if only we knew the various causal factors involved. This included the actions of people- there is room for neither chance nor choice.
212
Why did Kant say we do not needed to be dominated by the cause and effect of our emotions?
Because we can apply our reason to our decisions, and so we become the originating cause of our actions. He says that the mind exercising reason enabled us to make free decisions, whereas if we act from feelings or emotions than we become slaves to our passions.
213
What does Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle say?
That we cannot know both the location and the momentum of subatomic particles at the same time. He therefore thought it was better to refer to the statistical probabilities, rather than formulate general laws.
214
What is one of the great themes of existentialism?
That even if our freedom is limited, we show our freedom in our aim to be free and act freely.
215
What does Robert Kane believe?
He is a modern libertarian who argues that we experience deep freedo only at times of struggle when we feel pulled in two equally possible directions and have to exercise our minds and will to choose a path of self-determination.
216
What five freedoms did Robert Kane believe in?
- Self-realisation
- Rational self-control
- Self-perfection
- self-determination
- self-formation
217
How does self-formation allow us to act?
In a way determined by our existing character: so we can choose to change.
218
What did Kane believe we were ultimately responsible for?
Those actions by which we 'make ourselves into the kind we are, namely the "will-setting" or "self-forming actions"'
219
What quote does Robert Kane give about free will in relation to libertarianism?
"Now I believe these undetermined self-forming actions or SFAs occur at those difficult times of life when we are torn between competing visions of what we should do or become. Perhaps we are torn between doing the moral thing or acting fro ambition, or between powerful present desires and long-term goals, or we are faced with difficult tasks for which we have aversions'
220
Why are Robert Kane's libertarian views criticised by Daniel Dennett?
He says that these self-forming actions on which Kane says freedom depends may in fact never happen and if they never happen in a person's life then the person does not have any free will.
221
What do Libertarians say freedom of choice is not compatible with?
The fatalism, "Whatever will be will be", which says that nobody can change the course of events.
222
Why do libertarians argue that determinism cannot be understood without freedom?
- Human freedom cannot be understood without determinism because our choice is one of the causal factors
- most human choices are a combination of external causes and internal causes.
223
What are internal causes according to libertarians?
Internal causes, which lead to voluntary actions of free will, are the results of one's own wishes or desires.
224
What are external causes according to libertarians?
External causes which lead to involuntary actions of compulsion, contrary to one's wishes or desires.
225
How do libertarians define freedom?
As the liberty of spontaneity, the freedom to act according to one's nature.
226
What does Kant believe determinism apply to?
That it applied to everything which was the object of knowledge, but not to acts of the world.
