Free Will Flashcards
What are the 4 modern accounts of the free will problem?
- Libertarianism
- Hard determinism
- Compatibilism
- Impossibilism
What is intentional agency?
You will make certain choices depending on your beliefs/desires/intentions.
What is open future?
The past is fixed, but many different futures are possible.
What is ultimate responsibility?
Actions can be influenced but not determined.
What is libertarianism?
The rejection of determinism.
Most things in the universe are determined, but not our decisions.
What is hard determinism?
Accepting determinism, but rejecting free will.
We know that physical laws explain causality in the universe and we can’t change the past (so we must have no free will).
What is compatibilism?
Accepting determinism AND free will.
Free actions are done voluntarily, caused by internal states (eg. desires/intentions).
Determined actions are forced upon us
(eg. at gunpoint).
What is impossibilism?
Even if determinism is false, free will is impossible.
The argument should be determinism vs randomness.
What is incompatibilism?
The idea that free will and determinism are incompatible.
Greeks: View on the debate
Determinism: some views
Free will: no views
Medieval: View on the debate
Emphasis on religion.
We have free will.
Renaissance: View on the debate
Religious scholars questioned our free will
Descartes: View on the debate
Body is determined, mind has free will.
Darwin/Galton/Huxley: View on the debate
Skeptical of free will.
What was William James’ view on the debate?
Free will is functional.
He distinguished determined choice from free chance.
Also defined the debate between hard and soft determinism.
What was Skinner’s view on the debate?
Behaviour is determined.
Who was an example of a libertarianist?
Descartes
What are 2 arguments for Libertarianism?
- Non-physical agent-causal theories
- Humans can be the start of causal chains of events - Physical event-causal theories
- A small amount of randomness allows free will to be possible
What are 2 arguments against Libertarianism?
- Non-physical agent-causal theories
- If we have identity, our past history must have somehow determined our actions. - Physical event-causal theories
- It’s unlikely that random events occur at a large enough scale to affect decisions
- Things are determined, they’re just more difficult to explain
What are 2 arguments for Hard determinism?
- Physics
- Neuroscience
What is an argument against Hard determinism?
Fatalism (If thinking about our decisions has no real effect on our actions, why do we bother doing it?)
What is an argument against compatibilism?
Compatibilists change the definition of free will; they are determinists.
What is an argument for impossibilism?
Brain activity increases before you start to make a movement (Libet’s electronic clock)
