Controversies (determinism and free will) Flashcards
What is meant by determinism
This is the view the human behaviour is caused and controlled by forces over which the individuals have little or no control. Hard determinists believe that person has no Control it is shaped by internal or external forces. Soft determinist believe that person has an element of free will but that choice is constrained by the persons genetic influences and the environment encounter.
What is meant by free will
Free will is the view that humans have a free choice in their behaviour which they display. Thus the individual is capable of self-determination and is not constrained by biological forces and/or environmental forces which the person inherits or is subjected to. Free will implies that the person plays an active conscious role in controlling and choosing their behaviour.
Descarts
The debate about free will and determinism can be traced back the centuries to the French philosopher descartes. There’re three kinds of determinism.
Doctrine of freedom - humans are free to act how they wish.
Hard determinism- every act is caused by forces.
Soft determinism- our actions are decided but we do have responsibility to some.
Dennett
Argue despite the deterministic nature of our minds the brain is capable of consciously evaluating, to that extent we do have free will, irony is if it is the product of thinking and we explain thinking in terms of Brain activity it is explained that deterministic framework.
Biological approach
The biological approach believe that all behaviour is determined by internal biological processes. This is biological determinism. Research into the human genome is producing evidence the genetic influences the more discovered the more it appears it is genetic. Research into depression and IQ have identified specific genes that affect our behaviour. However it’s highly unlikely that it’s 100% genetic determinism this was demonstrated in Twin Studies.
Behaviourist
Environmental determinism is associated with the behaviourists such a skinner. They believe the human is born “tabula rasa” so all behaviour is a cause of the environment. It assumes humans are not rational everything is the environment. All behaviour is the cause of reinforcement or punishment. This can be explained by Badura. Watson believed he could take any child at random and shape them into any specialist.
Libet
Libet devised emperical way to test some ideas of free will. Using a machine which records brain activites, he measured the time the person takes to make a conscious decision and carry out the action. He found brain activity in the parts associated decisions. MRI confirms this activity. They strongly suggest that decisions are made unconscious before a person aware. So free will isn’t part of that decision but simply the conscious awareness. However it was found that the decisions were trivial and of little significance and it doesn’t reflect everyday life. Ecological validity.
Psychodynamic
A freudian analysis suggest that the motivations comes from the unconscious mind. The decision to act Will enter the conscious that ID makes the rational decision. Freewill is not so much choice of how to behave but how not to behave so it’s free won’t. The psychodynamic assumes it’s unconscious mind and childhood experiences.
Cognitive
Tends to be softer determinism stating solving problems we choose to pay attention, is argued that metacognotve forces enable individuals to choose from a number of possible choices.
Humanistic
In total contract with humanistic rejects the notion of determinism and state an individual can impose their free will and determine their own behaviour. This is only true if a person frees themselves from the control of others. It is argued that give free will is challenged the fact that people think they have free will has an implication on a behaviour.
Conclusion objective
Determinism scenes from evidence most likely explanation of behaviour and free will is just an illusion. However it must be remembered that there will always be an issue with objectivity and issues in measuring free will or determinism. The arguments put forward are unfalsafiable because determinist actually assume that cause exists even if it as yet to be identified.
