Free will and moral responsibility

Question 1

What is reductionism?

Answer 1

• View that in order to understand a complex entity, one should reduce it to the smallest component parts of which it is made
• Human behaviour is reduced to biology, which is then reduced to chemistry, which is then reduced to physics
• Our thoughts may be seen as no more than electrical impulses in our brains

Question 2

What is scientific determinism?

Answer 2

• Holds that all events are determined by antecedent events, so there can be no free will
• There is a complete sequence of cause and effect, beginning with the Big Bang and ending in the present
• Equations in physics are deterministic; physics governs everything so every event is determined by physics
• This means that the future can also be determined
• Overwhelming evidence from science seems to suggest that Hard Determinism is inescapable and we do not have free will

Question 3

What is psychological determinism?

Answer 3

• All behaviour is a product of genetic and environmental conditions
• If an action has good consequences then the brain becomes disposed to repeat it

Question 4

Which scholar is associated with psychological determinism?

Answer 4

BF Skinner

Question 5

What are some criticisms of psychological determinism?

Answer 5

• His application on the principles of animal behaviour to the much more complex human behaviour is unsound
• If human behaviour is merely a set of conditioned responses then his own thesis is merely an example of a conditioned response so why should we bother to listen to it

Question 6

What is theological determinism?

Answer 6

• Form of hard determinism that is rooted in the Christina idea that God is omniscient
• Led St Augustine and Calvin to the Doctrine of predestination
• An omniscient God must know the entire past, present and future of the universe and of humanity
• God’s foreknowledge must be causal because if he know you will do something then you can’t avoid doing that thing
• Free will must be an illusion and all events in the universe are caused by God

Question 7

What are the four different forms of Hard Determinism?

Answer 7

Reductionism, scientific determinism, psychological determinism and theological determinism