Determinism Flashcards
What does soft determinism argue?
People are determined but nonetheless still free
How does soft determinism define ‘free’?
Being able to do what one wants to do without external interference
How is soft determinism combine freedom and determinism?
Accepts that human actions have causes, but free actions are a consequence of choice rather than external influence
What were Thomas Hobbes’ dates?
1588-1679
What did Hobbes write, when and why?
- Treatise ‘Of Liberty and Necessity’
- 1645
- following a debate on human freedom with the Marquess of Newcastle and Bishop of Derry
What did Hobbes believe regarding determinism?
Everything that happens is a necessary effect of antecedent causes
What did Hobbes believe regarding free will?
Free actions exist but only in consistency with necessity
What is Hobbes’ conception of liberty?
People are free because they can follow their desires but are not free from the chain of cause and effect
According to Hobbes, what is being unrestrained not equal to?
Being caused
What is an internal cause? (H)
The will, only affected by deterministic factors such as conditioning
What is an external cause? (H)
Coercion or force, against the internal will
What are A.J. Ayer’s dates?
1910-1989
What does Ayer believe about free will?
A person who did an action can be considered to have acted freely if they could’ve refrained from doing it
What are Ayer’s 3 conditions to identify an action as constrained?
- Coercion
- Habitual ascendancy
- Internal constraint
What is coercion?
When a person is compelled by another
What is habitual ascendancy?
When a person does not engage in the decision making process, e.g. obeying orders
What is internal constraint?
When a person’s deliberative process is irrelevant e.g. kleptomania
What does Ayer argue about causation?
All actions have causes but it is a specific kind of cause that makes an action not free
What are Ayer’s 3 conditions for a free action?
- Could’ve acted otherwise
- Not compelled
- Voluntary action free from internal constraints
What is Peter Vardy’s form of soft determinism?
An intellect is capable of understanding the effects of conditioning, this can lead to greater freedom
What is Robert Kane’s form of soft determinism?
In a ‘torn decision’ (in which both options are equally powerful) either choice is rational so the person is free to choose
What is Daniel Dennett’s form of soft determinism?
Freedom is an ability refined in evolution which allows us to envision and avoid possibilities
How does determinism differ from predestination?
It does not require any belief in a God or metaphysical entity
What is determinism?
The idea that all human actions are the effects of antecedent causes and so are fixed
What are Pavlov’s dates?
1849-1936
How did Pavlov notice the affect of conditioning?
When researching the digestive system of dogs, he noticed how they would salivate when approached by people in lab coats
How were Pavlov’s dogs conditioned?
They had been conditioned to produce and unconditional reflex of saliva to the neutral stimulus of the lab coats
What is psychological determinism?
Human beliefs and actions follow unavoidably from the combination of experience and previous conditions
How did Watson and Rayner contribute to psychological determinism?
- exposed Little Albert to a fluffy rat and made a loud noise
- rat was henceforth associated with noise
- caused Little Albert to cry when shown rat even when no noise
What is B.F. Skinner’s radical behaviourism?
The idea that all human action is the direct result of conditioning
What is operant conditioning? (Skinner)
Conditioning a person by rewarding or punishing
What did Benjamin Libet discover about psychological determinism?
Found that brain activity for an action occurred long before a conscious decision
What is scientific determinism?
The future is predictable via application of the laws of nature and information about the initial state
What is biological determinism?
Human behaviour is determined by biological attributed e.g. the gene
What is genetic fixity?
The genes of parents inevitably determine to characteristics of their children at the moment of conception
When was the Human Genome Project and what was its purpose?
- 1990-2003
- attempted to map the genes of the human genome
What were the 4 areas of findings of the Human Genome Project?
- Criminality and violent behaviour
- Psychiatric illness
- Addiction
- Sexual orientation
What did the HGP find about criminality and violent behaviour? (2)
- it could be linked to the Y chromosome as 96% of prison population were male
- analysis of 900 offenders in Finland identified 2 genes 13x more likely in repeat offenders
What did the HGP find about psychiatric illness?
Autism, ADHD etc. have common genetic variations
What did the HGP find about addiction?
Influenced by genes clusters associated with mood and behaviour
What did the HGP find about sexual orientation?
Can be pinpointed as associated with 2 genes
What is hard determinism?
All actions are caused therefore there is no such thing as a free choice
What did John Locke write and when?
- ‘An Essay Concerning Human Understanding’
- 1689
How does Locke define freedom?
The power to be able to do something
How does Locke define will?
The power to desire something to be the case
What is Locke’s Locked Room Analogy?
- an man is carried asleep into a room
- there is a friend in the room he wants to spend time with
- he is unknowingly locked in the room
- he believes he is free to leave but he wills to stay
- therefore free will is an illusion
How does the Locked Room Analogy question whether we are free to will what we will?
The man cannot will himself to leave due to the presence of his friend
What were Augustine’s dates?
354-430
Why does Augustine object to Pelagius’ argument that human morality can bring about salvation?
Renders the sacrifice of Jesus and omnipotence of God redundant
What is double predestination?
God had selected in advance who will be saved and condemned, and so creates souls with the intention of punishing them
What is single predestination?
God has selected the Elect for salvation, the Reprobates are just the remainder
What did Augustine believe about inclination?
We are inclined and only free to sin
What is concupiscence?
Intense desire for earthly pleasures
Why are all humans slave to their desires?
Inheritance of sin and concupiscence from the Fall
How was Jesus free of Original Sin and concupiscence?
Immaculate conception
What is massa peccati?
Lump of sin
Where does the massa peccati analogy originate?
Romans 9, Paul uses analogy of a lump of clay needing to be shaped by a potter - Augustine saw humanity as a contaminated lump of clay
Why can’t humanity perceive the extent of sin?
Humans are universally affected by original sin
What ideas of predestination are associated with Augustine? (6)
- concupiscence
- massa peccati
- seminal presence
- liberum arbitrium
- atonement
- vineyard workers
What did Augustine believe was the initial, created state of humanity?
Perfectly good with the gift of free will
What does Augustine believe the Fall and Original Sin are the result of?
Free human choices to disobey God
Why are all humans condemned due to Original Sin?
Seminal presence in Adam
What is liberum arbitrium?
Free will
Why must humans have free will according to Augustine?
Otherwise God would be the author of sin, punishing humanity unjustly
How is human liberty lost due to Original Sin?
We are inherently predisposed to commit individual sin and desire evil
What analogy does Augustine use to present how it impossible for humans to truly choose good by themselves?
Weighing scales, in which the evil side is already weighted
How does Augustine interpret salvation?
As a free gift for the undeserving
How does Augustine believe atonement can be achieved?
Through God’s grace alone
Where is the Parable of the Vineyard Workers?
Matthew 20
What is the Parable of the Vineyard Workers?
- a landowner promises to pay workers 1d for a day’s work
- he hires a group in the morning and pays them 1d
- he hires extra workers in the afternoon and pays them 1d
- this payment was not reward for the amount of work but the fulfilment of a promise
How does Augustine use the Parable of the Vineyard Workers?
Presents salvation as not a reward but a fulfilment of God’s promise to save those he has predestined for atonement
Who was Calvin, what did he write and when?
- French Protestant Reformer
- ‘Institutes of the Christian Religion’
- 1536
What did Calvin challenge?
Catholic tradition and some of Augustine’s thinking
What are the key ideas associated with Calvin? (5)
- Doctrine of Election
- Five Points of Calvinism
- Elect and Reprobates
- Absolute power of God
- Corrupted nature of humans
What is the Doctrine of Election?
The idea that predestination is a decree of God that was decided before creation and is independent of human action
What scripture does Calvin generally refer to?
Pauls letters to the Romans and Ephesians
What are the 5 Points of Calvinism?
- Total depravity
- Unconditional election
- Limited atonement
- Irresistible grace
- Perseverance of the Elect
What is total depravity?
Humans are inherently sinful and incapable of doing good by themselves
What is unconditional election?
A person is elected on the basis of God’s will alone, independent of human action
What is limited atonement?
Christ’s death is only for the Elect
What is irresistible grace?
Humans cannot resist God’s love, the Elect will always obey God’s will
What is perseverance of the elect?
It is impossible for the Elect to turn away from God and commit apostasy
What type of predestination does Calvin lean to?
Double
What is a paradox within Calvin’s predestination argument?
God punishes the Reprobates for turning away from him, even though the Fall was his predetermined will and the method by which he asserted predestination
What does the absolute power of God reflect on Calvin’s predestination?
Nothing happens unless God means it and human action cannot affect God’s will
How did Calvin advocate for people to act?
In a way pleasing to God, as this is a sign of being among the Elect
What was the historical context of Calvin’s writing?
Protestant persecution in 16th Century France, which Calvin interpreted as a sign of being among the Elect
Religious believers should accept predestination:
- Consistent with traditional understanding of God’s characteristics
- Evident in texts such as Romans 8
- Approved and accepted into the doctrine of the Church by the Council of Carthage and Synod of Dort
Religious believers should not accept predestination:
- Free will is intrinsic to religious ethics and the resolution for the problem of evil and suffering
- Predestination can be paradoxical and contradictory
- Predestination may refers to the goal of salvation overall rather than the fates of individuals
God predestines humanity:
- Biblical prophesy implies God as an absolute sovereign
- Religious texts such as Ephesians 1:11 imply God predestined from the beginning of time
- Feinburg believes God accomplishes things on the basis of his purposes
Ephesians 1:11
‘predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will’
God does not predestine humanity:
- Single predestination suggests only the elect are determined
- Free will is instrumental to religious ethics and teaching
- Problem of Evil and Suffering
What are 3 strengths of Determinism?
- Biology and psychology present evidence of causality
- Scientific and medical developments have been based off the ability to predict human behaviour
- It is possible for people to be free externally but internally conditioned
What are 3 weaknesses of Determinism?
- Quantum mechanics and indeterminism challenge Newtonian views
- No clear evidence of the efficient cause
- Can excuse moral responsibility
Hard Determinism shows we have no free will:
- We can observe causality in everyday life and decision making
- Behaviourism views our actions as conditioned reactions
- Free will can be considered a philosophical illusion
Hard Determinism does not show we have no free will
- Sartre argues determinism is restrictive self-deception
- HD limits description of behaviour as solely nature or nurture
- Derives evidence from experiments on animals, not taking into account voluntary human thought
Hard Determinism - Lacey
‘hard determinists say that out actions are caused in a way that makes us not as free as we might have thought, so that responsibility, if it implies free will, is an illusion’
Freedom and Will - Locke
‘a person in regard of wishing any action in their power into existence once proposed to their thoughts cannot be free’
Scientific determinism - Laplace
‘we may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future’
Conclusion of psychological determinism - Skinner
‘man has no will, intention, self-determinism or personal responsibility’
Compatibilism - Nelene
‘Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will’
Internal cause - Hobbes
‘a man is said to be compelled when fear makes him will to do something, as when a man willingly throws his goods into the sea to save himself’
Constraint - Ayer
‘for it is not, I think, causality that freedom is to be contrasted with, but constraint’
Romans 5:12
‘sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned’
Inheritance - Augustine
‘Man, being of his own will corrupted and justly condemned, begot corrupted and condemned children’
Romans 30:15
‘I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction’
Romans 8:29
‘for those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son’
Doctrine of Election - Calvin
‘God foreknew what the end of man was to be before he made him, and foreknew because he had so ordained by his decree’
Double predestination - Calvin
‘all are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation’
Unconditional Election - Calvin
‘the salvation of believers is founded entirely on the decree of divine election, that the privilege is not procured by works but free calling’
