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Essay for libertarianism
Essay for libertarianism
Examine various understandings of the concept of free will
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Recommended: Essay for libertarianism
Erick Sekely
Dr. Sharon Mason
Philosophy For Living
November 29, 2017
Explore Project When we make a decision, it is usually based upon previous experiences; while we may have free will to choose what course we want to take, it also happens because we can articulate what will happen through our decision making. Compatibilism explains this very well, it is a form of determinism and free will. I will show you how it contrast to others and why it is the position I take on this subject matter. I will explain how others may think this position is wrong. Ultimately I want to change your opinion if you had a different one then determinism. I start off explaining my position by using my own personal experiences. Let’s talk about when we get assigned homework we have the freewill to choose whether to do it or not. I once forgot to turn in an assignment, at that point I had to options, I
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Basically advocating for both beliefs determinism and libertarianism. While Libertarianism seeks to fully make everything based on free will and morally right actions. We all use freewill all the time, every day. When we get up in the morning we choose what to do first, whether that may be get breakfast and then get dressed, or take a shower first. It all depends on what you want to do and your free will to do what you want. Unfortunately, Libertarianist, seek to implement freewill to the fullest. From politics, to our lives, to everything we …show more content…
McKenna, Michael, and D. Justin Coates. “Compatibilism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 26 Apr. 2004, plato.stanford.edu/entries/compatibilism/.
Vallentyne, Peter, and Bas van der Vossen. “Libertarianism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 5 Sept. 2002,
The argument of free will and determinism is a very complex argument. Some might say we have free will because we are in control; we have the ability to make our own choices. Others might say it’s in our biological nature to do the things we do; it’s beyond our control. Basically our life experiences and choices are already pre determined and there’s nothing we can do to change it. Many philosophers have made very strong arguments that support both sides.
American Philosophical Quarterly 21, no. 3 (1984): 227-36.
P. F. Strawson was an English philosopher that fought strongly for the idea of compatibilism. Compatibilist see that libertarian free will and hard determinism are extremely different and there must be a compromise. Free will says that a human's actions are freely decided by the agent, while hard determinism argues that all past events will determine what is to come in the future. Compatibilism believe that in a mix of both libertarian free will and hard determinism. This is also known as soft determinism. The ideology of compatibilism says that both an action is determined, that is, that it must happen, but it can also be self-determined. But, where do we draw the line? What parts of our life are determined for us? What actions do we decide? These are all questions that come up for those who argue against
Free will, many believe it (free will) is only a fabrication and humans are at the mercy of natural law; determinist theories suggest that humankind is no more than a mere pawn, destined to carry out the grand design the universe has so concretely laid out. Others (Compatibilist), like to think that although, mankind is under universal law, decisions are ultimately made by individuals thus, free will must be real. The Libertarians like to think humanity's fate is left entirely up to the common people and therefore, any action(s) taken are simply choices whether they be admirable or atrocious. In the present day, the question of is free will real still seems like a complex riddle that mankind is destined to ponder for an eternity.
Hard determinist view free will as incompatible with determinism, and therefore it does not exist. These philosophers, however, define free will as making decision in a random, uncaused way. B.F. Skinner would be an example of a hard determinist, where he simply does not accept the existence of freedom of will. David Hume, a 17th century philosopher, helped bring about soft determinism. He was the first to argue that maybe the root of the free will problem lied in the definition of free will. Instead of humans making decision in uncaused ways, maybe being free is doing what you want to do. By predicting what you want to do; to make you decision based on aspirations or desires, enables the concept of free will to work in the context of the determinist theory. Those who choose to accept both our choices being determined by outside factors, and accept that humans have the ability to make their own decisions based on these pressures, believe in the theory of compatibilism. Compatibilists, like A.J Ayer and Susan Wolf, define and defend their acceptance of both determinism and the existence of free will. Ayer finds two issues with “hard” compatibilism. He doubts that every event has a direct cause, which is at the core of determinism. While scientists have laws and theories that determine how actions are caused, like gravity and motion, there are still phenomena that science cannot explain their causes.
Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas Volume One: From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE to 1939),Robert Graham, Black Rose Books, March 2005. 16 Feb. 2014.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, CSLI, Stanford University, 26 August 2004. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche-moral-political/> Strander, Brian. Who is the ‘Sovereign Individual’? Nietzsche on Freedom.
In philosophy today, free will is defined as, “the power of human beings to choose certain actions, uninfluenced by pressure of any sort, when a number of other options are simultaneously possible.” Philosophers have debated the issue of whether humans truly possess free will since ancient times. Some argue that humans act freely, while others believe that, “Every event, including our choices and decisions, is determined by previous events and the laws of nature—that is, given the past and the laws of nature, every event could not have been otherwise,” which is an idea known as determinism (Barry, #14). This relationship between free will and determinism continues to puzzle philosophers into the twenty-first century. An example of a piece to the free will puzzle, are the schools of thought of Incompatibilism and Compatibilism. Incompatibilism is defined as,
Hume, David. “Of Moral and Social order.” An Introduction to Philosophy. Ed. G. Lee Bowie, Meredith W. Michaels and Robert C. Solomon. 4th ed. Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. 348-352
For centuries philosophers have debated over the presence of free will. As a result of these often-heated arguments, many factions have evolved, the two most prominent being the schools of Libertarianism and of Determinism. Within these two schools of thought lies another debate, that of compatibilism, or whether or not the two believes can co-exist. In his essay, Has the Self “Free Will”?, C.A. Campbell, a staunch non-compatiblist and libertarian, attempts to explain the Libertarian argument.
The aim of this essay is to prove the reliability of and why Libertarianism is the most coherent of the three views, which refers to the idea of human free will being true, that one is not determined, and therefore, they are morally responsible. In response to the quote in the essay, I disagree with Wolf. This essay will be further strengthened with the help of such authors as C.A. Campbell, R. Taylor and R.M. Chisholm. They present similar arguments, which essentially demonstrate that one could have done otherwise and one is the sole author of the volition. I will present the three most common arguments in support of Libertarianism, present an objection against Libertarianism and attempt to rebut it, as well as reject one main argument from the other.
Van-Inwagen, Peter. "Freedom of the Will." Feinberg, Joel and Russ Shafer-Landau. Reason and Responsibility: Readings in Some Basic Problems of Philosophy. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. 409-418. Print.
Free will is the ability for a person to make their own decisions without the constraints of necessity and fate, in other words, their actions are not determined. Determinism is the view that the initial conditions of the universe and all possible worlds are the same, including the laws of nature, causing all events to play out the same. Events are determined by the initial conditions. Two prominent positions advocated concerning the relation between free will and determinism are compatibilism and incompatibilism. In this essay I shall argue that compatibilism is true. Firstly, I shall explain what compatibilism is and consider possible objections and responses to the theory. I shall then examine incompatibilism and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses and argue that compatibilism is a stronger argument and, as a result, show why it is also true.
It upholds freedom as its principal objective. Libertarians seek to maximize independence, freedom of choice and also emphasizing constitutional freedom. In order for humans to make their choices freely, morality has to be involved. In the sense that humans can be able to understand the choices they make, the effects the choices they make may have and whether it is good or evil. This is quite easy to understand and I believe that we all have free-will to do whatever we want at whatever time we want to because human behavior is the result of the decisions based on free-will rather than the results of deterministic influences.
Freedom, or the concept of free will seems to be an elusive theory, yet many of us believe in it implicitly. On the opposite end of the spectrum of philosophical theories regarding freedom is determinism, which poses a direct threat to human free will. If outside forces of which I have no control over influence everything I do throughout my life, I cannot say I am a free agent and the author of my own actions. Since I have neither the power to change the laws of nature, nor to change the past, I am unable to attribute freedom of choice to myself. However, understanding the meaning of free will is necessary in order to decide whether or not it exists (Orloff, 2002).