Determinism and the Limits of Freedom
In Philosophy there are many questions that individuals have asked and one of the most important questions is “are we truly free?”. Many individuals have their opinions on free will; some may argue that we are free inhabitants of this world and that the world is our playground and we may do as we wish, and some believe that we have to abide by this world and its rules which discourages many from doing as they wish, therefore in essence, we are not truly free. One of the most influential philosophers, Baron d’Holbach, had two beliefs regarding limitations of human freedom, d’Holbach called them internal and external constraints. Internal constraints are constraints that hinder our ability to do as we wish
…show more content…
In relation to internal and external constraints, there is a theory called determinism which, according to John Chaffee is “The view that every event, including human actions is brought about by previous events in accordance with universal causal laws that govern the world. Human freedom is an illusion” (P. 159). Digging deeper into determinism, we find hard determinism, which is a belief that there is absolutely no free will without a trace of doubt and everything that happens is in accordance with a cause. On the surface it may seem that hard determinism and internal/external constraints have no difference and that both beliefs are exactly the same, however, there is one obscure difference that some individuals may miss and to put it in a hypothetical situation, an individual is walking in an alley and a mugger comes and robs the individual at gunpoint, the individual is still free even with this external force present, however, the individual’s options are limited to either fighting back or being in compliance with the criminal’s demands, however, with a hard deterministic belief the individual would have had no options and would have had to do what the criminal had asked of them, ultimately leaving the individual with
In life we are constantly questioning why people act the way they do. A determinist would say that freedom of choice couldn’t always be possible because our actions are determined by things that are way beyond our control. This view is known as the most extreme form of determinism; hard determinism. A hard determinist would believe there is no free will it’s an illusion everything is determined. Everything happens because of physical laws, which govern the universe. Whether or not we do well in life is far beyond our control. We may seem to have a choice but in reality we don’t. We shouldn’t blame people or praise people it wasn’t their choice. We are helpless and blind from start to finish. We don’t have any moral responsibilities. Some causes that are put forth by determinist are human nature; which means people are born with basic instincts that influence how they act. Another is environmental influence, which simply means people are shaped by their environment conditioned by their experience to be the kind of people they are. Also, social dynamics, which mean’s social creatures that are influenced by social force around them and psychological forces, which is people, are governed by psychological forces.
The last few weeks of class we covered several different kinds of determinism from the various handouts we received. The hard determinist believe that everything happens in a causal fashion, that there is no free will and everything is predetermined. “We remember statements about human beings being pawns of their environment, victims of conditions beyond their control, the result of causal influences stemming from parents, etc.”1 These hard determinist think that the universe works like a clock. Everything has a causal effect onto the other and there is no free will or choice, that all the tiny variables added up to you making that choice. Hospers dives into the psychology and says that every choice you make is a predetermined factor
Hard determinism argues that all events are caused. Hard determinists define human thoughts and actions as events. If human thoughts and actions are events, then they must be caused. If every human thought and action is caused, then humans do not have the ability to choose their own thoughts and actions because they are entirely dependent on prior causes. If this is the case, there can be no such thing as free will.
Do humans have freewill to decide what can what they can choose to do, or are they dictated by external forces the moment they come into existence and do have freewill? A question that many people wonder about, and tries to find ways to answer it in a few different ways, for instance following the determinism stance where humans have no free will, with their lives being dictated by an external force. While in contrast people who believe in libertarianism, by having a stance that shows humans to have freewill without any choice being influenced by an external force. However, soft determinism, or Compatibilism is stance that people take to allow free will to coexist with external forces guiding individuals, but not to an uncontrollable state. Soft determinism allows for humans to have freewill, while not totally following an unknown, or external force, as humans are the main cause for their actions, while those actions are still influences by some means, and that
Hard determinists believe that all actions and decisions are determined by a number of different causes. Every single mental event, choice, intention, decision, and our actions are no more than an effect of other equally necessitated event (Hondereich). For example, when you choose what to wear in the morning it’s affected by many different factors like society and what’s in style, the weather, if you’re religiously affiliated, and other things as well. Scientific evidence for this claim is tied to Isaac Newton 's Theory of Relativity that mentions that for every action there are positive and or negative outcomes. In a sense this is similar to the hard determinist theory. Our actions vary from wants, wishes, and motivations, which basically are caused by specific conditions as mentioned earlier. Freud stated that the factors such as wants and wishes are the result of psychological conditioning and that our suppressed feelings produced by the human psyche (Id, Ego and Super ego) come together uncontrollably later in life effecting all actions and decisions you will
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 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.
Everything is pre-decided. Every activity of your life is planned in advance. Go to bed at 8, listen to the lecture in the morning, and dine with a previously-planned sitting. How could you be free when all your life and actions are already determined by others? How could you feel free when you can’t express what you think owing to the fear of being socially-excluded? Are you really free when you’re constantly watched by an invented social conscious?
Free will can be defined as: “The right, given to humans by God, to make their own decisions.” A mans free will cannot be destroyed by any power other than God. Humans can always exercise their free will when making decisions. However, when their decisions come in conflict with the laws set by a higher power, they might face consequences based on how they choose to use their free will. The more restrictions imposed upon someone’s free will the more restricted their ability to make decisions become. The extent to which someone may exercise their free will can be defined as their “freedom.” Therefore, the more laws imposed upon someone’s free will the more restricted their freedom. Although no power, save God, can destroy free will, they can limit and even destroy someones freedom. In the essay Shooting an Elephant George Orwell argues that, “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys” (Orwell, 704). Free will is indestructible; an example of Orwell’s destruction of freedom but preservation of free will is given in his essay. In Antigone an example of how even though higher powers can limit your decisions they cannot stop you from exercising your free will.
Determinism currently takes two related forms: hard determinism and soft determinism [1][1]. Hard determinism claims that the human personality is subject to, and a product of, natural forces. All of our choices can be accounted for by reference to environmental, social, cultural, physiological and hereditary (biological) causes. Our total character is a product of these environmental, social, cultural, physiological and hereditary forces, thus our beliefs, desires, values and habits are all outside of our control. The hard determinist, therefore, claims that our choices are determined by these factors; free will is an illusion because the choices and decisions we make are derived from our character, which is completely out of our control in creating. An example might help illustrate this point. Consider a man who has just repeatedly stabbed another man outside of a bar; the other man is dead. The hard determinist would argue that there were factors outside of the killer’s control which led him to this action. As a child, he was constantly beaten by his father and was the object of ridicule and contempt of his classmates. This trend of hard luck would continue all his life. Coupled with the fact that he has a gene that has been identified with male aggression, he could not control himself when he pulled the knife out and started stabbing the other man. All this aggression, and all this history were the determinate cause of his action.
To make this argument I will first outline this thought with regard to this issue. Second, I will address an argument in support of Rousseau’s view. Third, I will entertain the strongest possible counterargument to my view; namely, the idea that the general will contradicts itself by forcing freedom upon those who gain no freedom from the general will. Fourth, I will rebut that counter argument by providing evidence that the general will is always in favor of the common good. Finally, I will conclude my paper by summarizing the main lines of the argument of my paper and reiterate my thesis that we can force people to be free.
The concept of free will has developed slowly, though ancient philosophers did address the subject when trying to reconcile intentional action with religious concerns about human and divine freedom. It wasn’t until the end of medieval times that the modern-day understanding of freedom as a completely undetermined choice between alternatives was introduced. However, it is unclear how to reconcile contemporary science that acknowledges the in...
If there is no room for choice or chance then everything happens without an individuals responsibility of doing something, mean that people can not be held to their actions, because individuals are not able to chose their actions no matter how virtuous or viscous they may be, as all their actions are all already predetermined. The idea of hard determinism refutes the idea of if-then statements because human choices and actions are not taken into factor because under hard determinism humans are not responsible for our actions. Hard determinism received its greatest influence from the physicist Isaac Newton, and his studies in physics and his idea of the universe as “matter in motion”. People who believe in Newton’s “matter in motion” theory who also believe in hard determinism applied the idea to everything in the universe, that everything is just matter in motion including humans, who need to obey the laws of nature just as anything else needs
Over the centuries, Philosophers have argued different forms of determinism as the leading cause of our inherent human nature. The definition of human nature varies for each person as our tendencies or perception are altered by our reality. Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud each had a deterministic view on human nature that has led to further psychological advancements. Determinists believed that outside forces predetermine all actions and events humans face in their day to day lives. Both standpoints connect determinism and human nature however, their differences between them are more important as Marx evaluates economical stances and Freud evaluates circumstances.
t is intriguing that when a person is presented with the ideas of free will or determinism, they usually jump rather quickly to the conclusion of free will. Most people appreciate the genuine freedom that accompanies choice, but do we really possess it? Complete free will would mean that our decisions would be unrelated to other factors such as the environment or genetics. In reality, our free decisions are based on factors that are beyond our own control. When exercising certain choices, we conclude that we have acted freely and distinguish our actions from situations in which we believe were not in our control. The events that are not in our control are pre-determined for us, which lead us on a path to a determined life. Even though we may be making our own unique decisions, they all connect to form a single planned outcome.