Soft determinism

Question 1

Hobbes - Internal and external causes

Answer 1

• 17th century philosopher Hobbes
• attempted to reason why classical soft determinism wasn’t the same as hard determinism
• He explained the difference by considering two types of causes: Internal + External
• Internal cause - the choice moral agents make for themselves
• External cause - when someone forces a moral agent to do something against their will

Classical soft determinism - determined by internal causes

Hard determinism - determined by both internal and external causes

(blazer example)

Question 2

Ayer - Caused acts vs Forced Acts

Answer 2

• 20th century British philosopher
• He supported classical soft determinism
• When a moral agent is only determined by an internal cause, the moral agent will use the phrase ‘caused’
• however when the moral agent is only determined by an internal and external cause the moral agent will use the phrase ‘forced’
• Walking across the room example