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Controversy between free will and determinism
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In Philosophy, the argument of determinism versus libertarianism is never ending. Each side argues about whether free will is a choice or if everything in life is pre-determined. I will discuss both sides and choose the side I agree with.
To understand the argument, one must know the definition of free will. The most commonly used definition is that one does in fact have control over their actions or behavior. It is the idea that we have the ability to choose how we react and that we have the choice to choose our behavior; basically saying that we do have a choice in what we do. Determinism is defined as a belief that everything you do is a result of a prior action. In other words -- everything you do is predicted in advanced. Libertarianism is defined as the belief of free moral choice by denying determinism, and that free will exists in
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The issue is not whether or not actions are caused, but whether they are caused or prevented by external constraints. Therefore, determinism and free will are compatible. People are free, but soft determinism disagrees with both the Hard Determinist and the Libertarian on what it means to be free. The soft determinist ‘Free’ means the ability to do what one wants and that those actions are free and not forced. Like Ayer statess in his argument, “if you are forced to do something you don’t want to, then you are not free. Soft determinism says that moral responsibility requires determinism with respect to a one's actions, for example the Jones examples; to hold Jones responsible for doing X requires that X was caused by Jones' desire. Jones does X freely and is responsible for it if it was his desire. In order to stop Jones from doing acts of kind X in the future, Jones has to be punished. There would be no point of punishing unless it would cause Jones to act differently so, moral responsibility requires
The contradiction here is that humans cannot refrain from performing free will. Therefore, determinism cannot abolish free will. He also mentions that if determinism is true, then no one has power over the facts of the past and the laws of nature. Therefore, no one has power over the facts of the future, and, also, has no control over the consequences of one’s behavior. For example, he expresses how compatibilism has been in existence before laws were even made.
There is much debate over the issue of whether we have complete freedom of the will or if our will caused by something other than our own choosing. There are three positions adopted by philosophers regarding this dispute: determinism, libertarianism, and compatibilism. Determinists believe that freedom of the will does not exist. Since actions are events that have some predetermined cause, no actions can be chosen and thus there is no will to choose. The compatibilist argues that you can have both freedom of the will and determinism. If the causes which led to our actions were different, then we could have acted in another way which is compatible with freedom of the will. Libertarians believe that freedom of the will does exist.
Before I begin it is pertinent to note the disparate positions on the problem of human freedom. In "Human Freedom and the Self", Roderick M. Chisholm takes the libertarian stance which is contiguous with the doctrine of incompatibility. Libertarians believe in free will and recognize that freedom and determinism are incompatible. The determinist also follow the doctrine of incompatibility, and according to Chisholm's formulation, their view is that every event involved in an act is caused by some other event. Since they adhere to this type of causality, they believe that all actions are consequential and that freedom of the will is illusory. Compatiblist deny the conflict between free will and determinism. A.J. Ayer makes a compatibilist argument in "Freedom and Necessity".
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.
The power of acting without necessity and acting on one’s own discretion, free will still enamors debates today, as it did in the past with philosophers Nietzsche, Descartes, and Hume. There are two strong opposing views on the topic, one being determinism and the other “free will”. Determinism, or the belief a person lacks free will and all events, including human actions, are determined by forces outside the will of an individual, contrasts the entire premise of free will. Rene Descartes formulates his philosophical work through deductive reasoning and follows his work with his system of reasoning. David Hume analyzes philosophical questions with inductive reasoning and skepticism in a strong systematic order.
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.
Soft determinism attempts to make the disagreeing data of determinism and freedom compatible. The theory of soft determinism rests on three fundamental claims: (1) the deterministic concept that human behaviour is causally determined; (2) that there is freedom in voluntary behaviour, so long as there is no physical impediment or constraint upon the action; and (3) that the cause of the voluntary behaviour (which is possible in the absence of impediments or constraints) is an internal state of the agent of the action. According to soft determinism, therefore, we are responsible for our actions on o...
The Libertarian view consists of one’s actions not being determined; however, have free will, which is a precondition for moral responsibility. Basically put, human acts are not determined precedent causes. Libertarianism is one of the views under incompatibilism along with Hard Determinism. The opposite of these views is Compatibilism. An example of Libertarianism is: right now, one can either stop reading this essay or can continue to read this article. Under this claim, the fact that one can choose between either is not determined one way or the other.
The problem of free will and determinism is a mystery about what human beings are able to do. The best way to describe it is to think of the alternatives taken into consideration when someone is deciding what to do, as being parts of various “alternative features” (Van-Inwagen). Robert Kane argues for a new version of libertarianism with an indeterminist element. He believes that deeper freedom is not an illusion. Derk Pereboom takes an agnostic approach about causal determinism and sees himself as a hard incompatibilist. I will argue against Kane and for Pereboom, because I believe that Kane struggles to present an argument that is compatible with the latest scientific views of the world.
Soft determinism touts itself as a looser form of determinism; it maintains that a modicum of freedom can exist within determinism. For the soft determinist, the personality or character of the agent is still derived from environmental, social, cultural, physiological and hereditary factors. The agent’s actions are still a result of this character. However, the soft determinist maintains that we are free because freedom is not a freedom from all causes but is a freedom from some causes. One might argue that there was no compulsion in the action of the killer; he knows the consequences of his actions and is aware that murder is wrong. If someone held a gun to his head and told him to stab the other individual, we could not rightly state that his actions were free if there is some external compulsion. His personality is created within a context that instills certain societal values and norms of behavior...
Determinism is the view that all events, including human choices, are governed by causes independent of human free will. If determinism is true and humans have sufficient knowledge of the universe, they could understand why things happen and predict what would happen in every circumstance. Libertarianism is the opposite of determinism. It is the view that the will is free, to a certain point, and tha...
Imagine starting your day and not having a clue of what to do, but you begin to list the different options and routes you can take to eventually get from point A to point B. In choosing from that list, there coins the term “free will”. Free will is our ability to make decisions not caused by external factors or any other impediments that can stop us to do so. Being part of the human species, we would like to believe that we have “freedom from causation” because it is part of our human nature to believe that we are independent entities and our thoughts are produced from inside of us, on our own. At the other end of the spectrum, there is determinism. Determinism explains that all of our actions are already determined by certain external causes
Author Robert Kane has a libertarian view on free will. He cites his reasons such as the garden of forking paths where every decision made by a person brings that person on a new path therefor forking from the old path. This means that it is possible a person could have chosen otherwise and gone on a different path if a different decision had been made. The alternate argument, for determinism, is that every decision has already been made and there is no garden of forking paths, just a straight line and everything that happens is meant to happen. Another major argument Kane uses is the argument of Ultimate Responsibility, which in short means that a person shall not be held completely responsible for something unless they are the ultimate author
When it comes to the topic of free will, most people would agree that it is something they do possess. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of what specific notion of freedom, and how it affects moral responsibility. Whereas some feel that everything is already determined, others maintain that humans do possess free will and/or moral responsibility. Hard determinism is the theory that all events are the necessary result of previous causes (Lawhead, 117) and so humans do not have a moral responsibility for their actions (Lawhead, 119). Libertarianism is the position that rejects determinism and claims that humans do have metaphysical freedom. Another standpoint is compatibilism, which attempts to serve as a medium
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).