1 Determinism Flashcards
What is a hard determinist?
Those who think all human actions are effects caused by prior influences.
What is a soft determinist?
Those who think some human actions are determined but we still have moral responsibility.
Who says: ‘men think themselves free on this alone, that they are conscious of their actions and ignorant of the causes of them’
Spinoza
Who said: ‘And the first morning of creation wrote what the last dawn of reckoning shall read’
Khayyam
Who said: ‘pear trees cannot bear bananas.. everything is planned, connected, limited’
Voltaire
Who defines hard determinism as ‘all our choices, decisions, intentions, and actions are no more than effects of other equally necessitated events’
Honderich
Who thinks that hard determinism leads to pessimism or a terrible subjective moral judgement?
William James
How does Honderich show freedom and determinism are compatible: someone can make a right decision even if they would have done it anyway?
A person has to choose between doing the right thing or doing a selfish thing. They choose to do the right thing, but a demon neuroscientist had put a device in her brain to choose the selfish thing they would choose the right thing.
What is internal causation?
Causes who you are
What is external causation?
Dictator/law/peer pressure causing you to do something
What does Aquinas believe about causation?
Cosmological argument and one of his five ways is that everything in the world has a cause, so all events are causally determined.
What is the example of the trial of Loeb and Leopold?
Their lawyer Darrow argued hard determinism, that their actions were a product of by heir upbringing, however they were found guilty and sent to prison so were still held morally responsible for their actions.
How are soft determinists criticised?
By HD: they fail to realise the extent to which human freedom is limited.
By L: they fail to realise the true extent of human freedom.
What did Hospers, a modern hard determinist think?
That our actions are always compelled by something external and internal.
What did Darrow, Loeb and Leopold’s lawyer, say about punishments?
“Punishment as punishment is not admissible unless the offender has the free will to select his course”
