4F The implications of libertarianism and free will Flashcards
What are the two implications that the spec requires you to analyse?
- The implications of libertarianism on moral responsibility
* The implications of free will on religious belief
[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Outline the general response to the worth of human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value.
• Implications for moral responsibility = primarily polar opp. of det.
- ∴ an agent’s moral life = free from determining factors
• Only conclusion = that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value = meaningful
[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Give supporting evidence from Jean-Paul Sartre to the notion that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value are meaningful.
- Condemned to freedom
- “man must rely upon his own fallible will and moral insight. He cannot escape choosing”
- “man is not free not to be free”
- Moral value = result of a human being’s ‘willed’ moral choice
[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Give supporting evidence from Sirigu and Jirtle to the notion that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value are meaningful.
• The further sci. examines evi., the more it points towards humans having free will (e.g. through epigenetic switches)
[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Give supporting evidence from Pelagius to the notion that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value are meaningful.
- “our most excellent creator wished us to be abe to do either good or bad”
- “this very capacity to do evil is also good […] Because it makes the good part better by making it voluntary
[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Give supporting evidence from Arminius to the notion that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value are meaningful.
- “God has limited his control in correspondence with man’s freedom”
- HS does not force its ‘will’ onto humans ∵ the vital part of the process us that a human being makes a free-willed choice to decide not to rebel
- However, some may view Arm.’s arg. as watering down the worth of human ideas of rightness/wrongness ∵ HS acts as a moral guide; the ideas do not come from the agent’s own ‘will’
[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] What is the value in blaming human beings for immoral acts?
• Morally fair to punish ppl ∵ the choice of whether to be moral = within an agent’s own ‘willed’ moral control
• Sartre: total free will = total responsibility - curse
- Even those who dod not wish to take responsibility are still making a free choice
[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] In the UK legal system, there is a framework called ‘rational choice theory’. What is this?
• The belief that humans are reasoning actors who freely weigh up costs/benefits and ∴ make freely willed rational choices when committing illegal acts
- 2011 riots, 1566 ppl punished - “deliberately participate”
[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] What is the usefulness of normative ethics?
• Lib. upholds use of norm. eth.s ∵ act as a moral guide, helping a person to use their free will to manoeuvre down path of morality
- w/o a norm. eth. to guide, ppl may become amoral
• Divine Command Theory
- G’s commands act as a moral guide
- Concede that the use of human free-willed reason = reduced ∵ ppl do not need to use their own reason to rationalise morality - it is provided for them
• Act utilitarianism
- Bentham: pre-supposing w/ principle of utility that humans have the free will to select the course of action that maximises happiness
- ∴ has free will to make a choice
[Free will, Religious belief] How is God shown not to be omnipotent?
• According to Aug., Pel.’s theories made it poss. for a human to freely decide whether to be morally good or sinful
- ∴ a human = able to tell an omnipotent deity whether to give them salvation
- Aug. argued that this = an intolerable denial of G’s omnipotence + an insult to his divine majesty
- Supported by Jonathan Edwards: concept of free will = incompatible w/ individual dependence on an omnipotent G ∵ if a human could choose, it diminishes G’s omnipotence
• Sartre: free will illustrates “There is no God”
[Free will, Religious belief] How is God shown to be omnibenevolent?
• Supports omnibenevolence ∵ poss. for all to achieve salvation by freely following G’s laws
• Pel.: when A+E ate forbidden fruit, G did not punish all humans
- Would not punish all ∵ it was through no direct fault of their own - it was A+E’s sin alone
• Predestination makes humans pre-programmed robots
[Free will, Religious belief] What is the use of prayer?
• Free will supports the meaningfulness of prayer ∵ it = used to build a rapport w/ God
• Can seek forgiveness or guidance - consistent w/ free will
• Pel.: a human ≠ able to fulfil G’s eternal moral law w/o divine aid
- “free will is […] always assisted by divine help”
- This divine aid to guide to guide humans can be enhanced w/ prayer ∵ a human opens themselves up to the guiding light of the divine
- Forgiveness from free-willed decisions can be granted through prayer
[Free will, Religious belief] What are the implications for the existence of miracles?
• If G has granted free will, it raises questions about his intervention through miracles
• In both types of Aquinas’ miracles (primary and secondary), G influences the outcome
• E.g. Joshua 10:13 - G made the sun/moon stand still so that Joshua could defeat the enemies of Israel
- Determining the outcome of a major event w/ a miracle
- Overrides free will decisions of those involved
• ∴ free will ≠ compatible w/ miracles
[Free will, Religious belief] What is the link between God and evil?
• It defends G against the accusation that he + “the author of all sin”
- Pel.: “this very capacity to do evil is also good […] Because it makes the good part better by making it voluntary and independent”
• However, perhaps G = responsible for all evil ∵ all sin manifested by an imperfect moral agent = ultimately the responsibility of its creator
- If omniscient, would have known about evil
[Free will, Religious belief] How does the Irenaean theodicy support the view that God is not “the author of all sin”?
• God created humans imperfect, enabling them to actualise the qualities of G’s perfection e.g. a sense of morality
• To actualise these qualities of G’s perfection, humans must make free, moral decisions - good works develop the agent into G’s likeness
• Analogy: G = craftsman working w/ humans as his material - suggests that humans should freely allow themselves to be moulded into G’s likeness
• Humans used their free will to disobey G, causing moral evil to develop, but this is not G’s responsibility
• Moral evil = necessary part of life - w/o it, decisions would have no value
• “second-order goods” e.g. courage/perseverance could never be developed if there were not challenges in life that tested such goods
- ∴ if G intervened, it would compromise human freedom + prevent humans having the potential to develop into G’s likeness
