4B Concepts of determinism

Question 1

Who coined the term ‘hard determinism’?

Answer 1

• William James

Question 2

What is hard determinism?

Answer 2

• That everything that occurs in the universe has a sufficient explanation through causes and conditions - the law of cause and effect
• It is illogical to speak of ‘free’ will/choice ∵ everything = determined by causality

Question 3

What are the three types of hard determinism you are required to study? Who is each type associated with?

Answer 3

• Philosophical: John Locke
• Scientific (biological): Darwin, Weismann, Dennet
• Psychological (classical conditioning): Ivan Pavlov

Question 4

Philosophical: Elaborate on Locke’s comment that “Free will is an illusion”.

Answer 4

• Events are based on universal causation: all human actions have a past cause ∴ all events are determined by an unbreakable chain of past causes
• Ppl who believe they have free will are deluding themselves; they think this ∵ they stop to reflect before making a choice, but they are ignorant of universal causation, and do not have the intelligence to see that there are no choices to be made
• The future = as fixed/unchangeable as the past

Question 5

Philosophical: What two distinctions did Locke make?

Answer 5

• Voluntary: caused by a volition

* Involuntary: w/o a volition (inc. actions preceded by the right kind of volition, but not caused by the volition)

Question 6

Philosophical: What analogy did Locke use in Chapter XXI of ‘An Essay Concerning Human Understanding’?

Answer 6

• Man in bedroom analogy
• “Suppose a man be carried out, whilst fast asleep, into a room where is a person he longs to see and speak with; and be locked in, beyond his power to get out: he awakes […] and stays willingly […] is not this stay voluntary?”
• In reality, he has no choice: it is an illusion of freedom.
• The ignorance of universal causation gives the feeling of free will

Question 7

Scientific: What theory did Darwin and Weismann develop?

Answer 7

• Every living organism had a genetic formula, which Weismann called ‘determinants’ - later known as DNA
- Their findings implied that human action ≠ free: it is determined genetically

Question 8

Scientific: How did the work of Darwin and Weismann develop into a determinist theory?

Answer 8

• Clear links can be seen between genetic faults and physical/mental abnormalities
• Biological determinists argue that the above statement should be extended further to say that all human behaviour = determined by genes

Question 9

Scientific: Give an example of how someone’s physical appearance can dictate their behaviour.

Answer 9

• Acne, obesity

Question 10

Scientific: Give an example of how someone’s mental capacity can dictate their behaviour.

Answer 10

• Down’s Syndrome

Question 11

Scientific: What is Dennet’s idea of ‘genetic fixity’

Answer 11

• That a person’s behaviour is no more than their genetic makeup - any effort to change these behavioural patterns = useless
• Parents’ DNA determines the child’s DNA, which determines their characteristics and behaviour ∴ they are determined at birth

Question 12

Scientific: Give two findings from the Human Genome Project (1990-2003) that support genetic fixity.

Answer 12

• Multiple genes can cause addiction

* 9 regions of the genetic code play a pivotal role in determining sexuality

Question 13

What are the implications of scientific determinism?

Answer 13

• Ppl = reduced to genetic robots, programmed by DNA

- Sometimes referred to as ‘puppet determinism’

Question 14

Scientific: What is the MAOA gene?

Answer 14

• The ‘warrior gene’

* Has been found to be a determining cause of violence

Question 15

What is psychological determinism associated with?

Answer 15

• Behaviourism

Question 16

Psychological: What was an early behaviourist concept of determinism known as?

Answer 16

• Classical conditioning (aka reflex conditioning)

Question 17

Psychological: Outline ‘Pavlov’s Dogs’

Answer 17

• Normal reaction of dog to food = produced saliva (unconditional reflex)
• Bell rung when time for food (neutral stimulus)
• Dogs began to associate bell w/ food
• Eventually, bell = rang but did not produce food - the dogs still salivated
∴ dogs = conditioned to produce the unconditional reflex of saliva to the neutral simulus of the bell

Question 18

Psychological: How did Pavlov define ‘conditioning’?

Answer 18

• The subconscious repeating of behaviour to certain environmental conditions

Question 19

Psychological: How did John Watson further Pavlov’s work?

Answer 19

• Used a similar experiment on a baby, involving rats and a loud sound, causing the baby to cry

Question 20

Psychological: Following the work of Pavlov and Watson, what did behaviourists postulate?

Answer 20

• That all human reactions = conditioned reflexes/responses associated w/ the environmental conditions of one’s upbringing
- E.g. A child enjoys splashing in puddles; parent chastises them; child cries; develops an association between puddles and crying; walks around puddle in later life - they may feel that this is a free choice but it is a determined, conditioned response, as they are subconsciously repeating taught, conditioned behaviour

Question 21

What was B.F. Skinner’s contribution to psychological determinism?

Answer 21

• Operant conditioning: person = conditioned to repeat behaviour that is rewarded, but not repeat that which is punished
- E.g. rewarded for using toilet correctly

Question 22

Give an introduction to soft determinism.

Answer 22

• Attempts to combine the opposing theories of hard determinism and libertarianism (soft determinists = sometimes called compatibilists)
• Ppl = determined, but still free ∵ of our understanding of ‘free’
- Being free = being able what you want to do w/o external coercion
- Human actions have causes (genetics, behaviour, etc) but we are free if our actions = caused by our choices rather than external forces
• Freedom requires determinism ∵ otherwise everything would be random w/ no explanation
• This view allows for moral responsibility, whilst hard det. does not

Question 23

Give two modern thinkers that support soft determinism. What do they say about it?

Answer 23

• Kane + Vardy
• True freedom may never be achieved ∵ of the complexity of genetic/environmental influences, but this does not mean that it is impossible

Question 24

What are the soft determinist theories of Hobbes and Ayer known as? What do they argue?

Answer 24

• Classical soft determinism

* There is an element of freedom despite moral choices being determined by outside factors.

Question 25

Give a quote from Schopenhauer about soft determinism.

Answer 25

• “Man is free when he chooses what he wants, but he cannot will what he wants”

Question 26

Explain Thomas Hobbes’ idea of internal and external causes.

Answer 26

• Internal cause
- Choice ppl make internally for themselves (their will)
- Both hard + soft det.s accept that these = 100% determined by causation, conditioning or genetics
• External cause
- When someone is forced to do something against their determined will

Question 27

Hobbes: Explain internal/external causes in the case of classical soft determinism.

Answer 27

• The person = determined by internal causes but is free from external causes
• E.g. due to a determined internal cause, such as the genetic reaction to heat, a student had no choice but to take off their blazer in a warm classroom
- The person = able to take it off w/o hindrance, as they were free from external causes, such as a teacher stopping them

Question 28

Hobbes: Explain internal/external causes in the case of hard determinism.

Answer 28

• The person = determined by both internal and external causes ∴ no freedom at all
• E.g. due to a determined internal cause, such as the genetic reaction to heat, a student wanted to take off their blazer but were hindered by an external cause, such as the teacher refusing to give permission

Question 29

What link did Hobbes draw between a human and a river?

Answer 29

• A human = as free as an unimpeded river

• A river that flows down a hill follows a channel
• It is at liberty to flow within the channel
• Voluntary actions of humans = similar
• To be at liberty is not to be restrained, which is not the same as to be uncaused
• Ppl = free ∵ all actions follow from will
• Actions = necessary ∵ originate from a chain of causes/effects

Question 30

What did A.J. Ayer apply to determinism to empirically show the difference between soft and hard?

Answer 30

• Logical positivist theories

* He concludes from his studies of language that people make a language distinction between the two

Question 31

Ayer: Explain how a soft determined event engenders the word ‘caused’.

Answer 31

• When a person = only det. by an internal cause but not an external cause, the person will use the phrase ‘caused’
- E.g. ‘caused’ by the genetic reaction to heat to take off their blazer

Question 32

Ayer: Explain how a hard determined event engenders the word ‘forced’.

Answer 32

• When a person = det. by both int. + ext. causes, they will use the phrase ‘forced’
- E.g. ‘forced’ to keep their blazer on

Question 33

What analogy did Ayer use to explain his idea of caused/forced acts?

Answer 33

• Said that if he walked across a room ∵ someone had compelled him, observers would conclude that he was not acting freely + that his ‘forced’ movement = completely determined
• If he walked w/o being compelled, observers would still assume it had a cause (as all actions must be willed by the person, even if our will = determined), but would not say he was ‘forced’ ∵ no external force

Question 34

How is predestination different to determinism.

Answer 34

• Predestination: theological; can refer to just human human ‘destination’; not necessarily the path along the way
• Determinism = philosophical; covers all human actions