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Hard-determinism, soft-determinism, and
Hard-determinism, soft-determinism, and
Hard-determinism, soft-determinism, and
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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.
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.
Compatiblism also, known as soft determinism is the view that all e...
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...who we become so therefore, we have freedom.
Jean Grimshaw was feminist philosopher. Jean Grimshaw along with other feminist believed that repressive forces come from a male dominated society. She believes that manipulation has forced women to believe that they are inferior to men. Feminist authors wrote books about how women condition in their thinking by men. Grimshaw believes that there is an authentic female spirit self at the core of each woman. Women can discover their core releasing themselves from social and psychological oppression. Grimshaw states a lot of our decisions are not even our own but rather suggested to us and we tend to tell ourselves that we are the one that made that decision.
I agree with the liberation view everyone should have the right to life his or her life in any way these choose as long as they are respecting the rights of other’s.
If determinism is true, we are not responsible for our actions since our choices are determined by factors that we have no control over.
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.
The view mentioned is alarming in two respects: First of all, in accordance with the way we see ourselves we are convinced that freedom is essential for man's being. Secondly, philosophers think they have excellent arguments against determinism.
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.
Humans are not forced to follow a path, and can choose to take many different routes due to their unpredictability. A human can do whatever they desire, or feel like to do, with the only restraint being physically unable to do something beyond their capabilities. A human can choose to kill, die, fight, build, or do a countless number of actions in a moment without being hindered by an outside forces. Humans are the primary cause of committing an action, and decisions that can be not influenced by a third party. A determinist may view that humans are already decided by their history, or by an external force that “guides” an individual to their destiny, or fate whatever it may be. However, then it would mean that humans are not
Hard determinism is a problem for moral judgment because hard determinism says that a person is not held responsible for their actions and therefore does not allow free will. Our moral judgement is our decision between right and wrong but with hard determinism you aren’t held responsible for your wrong actions. This is causing a problem for moral judgement because we aren’t responsible for our wrong actions because our decisions cannot cause our action. Also is saying that “human freedom and determinism is not compatible” to one another. The textbook says that hard determinists believe that “we can only barely be said to be ‘acting’ at
There are a lot of different things that come to mind when somebody thinks of the phrase Free Will, and there are some people who think that free will does not exists and that everything is already decided for you, but there are also people who believe in it and think that you are free to do as you please. An example that explains the problem that people have with free will is the essay by Walter T. Stace called “Is Determinism Inconsistent with Free Will?”, where Stace discusses why people, especially philosophers, think that free will does not exist.
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.
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.
The discussion of free will and its compatibility with determinism comes down to one’s conception of actions. Most philosophers and physicists would agree that events have specific causes, especially events in nature. The question becomes more controversial when philosophers discuss the interaction between human beings, or agents, and the world. If one holds the belief that all actions and events are caused by prior events, it would seem as though he would be accepting determinism
In my own opinion theological determinism is a hard topic to wrap my brain around. Man was created to have free will but if God has already determined the events of one’s life then ‘how is it free will?’. This is one question I have always asked myself, not that it affects my beliefs. In class we covered God’s Decreed will, which has clarified some of my confusion on the subject. God knows when things will happen and how they will happen, even if we do not know
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
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.
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).
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