Free Will Flashcards
What is Determinism?
The idea that all events are determined completely by previously existing causes.
Logical Determinism
The idea that the future is already as fixed and determined as the past,
Theological Determinism
God is omniscient, he knows everything, including the future.
Psychological Determinism
There are set biological factors/psychological laws in the brain that determine how a person will respond to future events.
Physical Determinism
Physical laws of nature mean that all features of the world depend on the physical grounds.
Causal Determinism
All events are predetermined by the laws of cause and effect.
Describe Nature vs Nurture
The idea that your genetics will determine how you respond to events vs your upbringing.
How did Benjamin Libet prove that we have NO free will?
It was already known that electrical activity builds up in a person’s brain before they, for example, move their hand; Libet showed that this buildup occurs BEFORE the person consciously makes a decision to move.
Illusionism
Free will is an illusion, but one that society must defend to uphold the belief that we are responsible for our own actions.
Libertarianism
Idea that we DO have free will and that we are free from forms of determinism. Since agents have free will, determinism is false.
Incompatibilism
The idea that a deterministic universe is completely at odds with the notion that a person has free will. Two types: those who deny free will (hard determinists) and those who assert free will (libertarianists).
Compatibilism
Emerges as a response to causal determinism - we cannot do anything other than what we ultimately end up doing. Determinism and free will are compatible.
Define Holton’s argument for determinism (four premises, conclusion)
P1: if determinism is true, then every human action is causally necessitated.
P2: if every action is causally necessitated, no one could have acted otherwise.
P3: one only has free will if one could have acted otherwise.
P4: determinism is true.
C: no one has free will.
Principle of alternative possibilities
A person’s act is free if and only that person could have done otherwise.
Define first and second order desires.
First order: a desire to perform an action.
Second order: a desire to have a desire.
Define a will vs a second order volition
Will: a first order desire which is effective
Second order volition: desire that a certain desire be one’s will.
Define compatibilism vs incompatibilism
The idea that determinism is compatible with free will, vs the idea that determinism is incompatible with free will.
Explain the premise of Wolf’s JoJo thought experiment
Jojo is the favourite son of Jo, a horrible dictator. Growing up the favourite, JoJo is exposed to his father’s behaviours constantly and takes him on as a role model. When he grows older, JoJo behaves just like his father, torturing and killing without thought. Is JoJo is insane? is he a free agent? He has both the first and second order desires to do what he does. Would any other person brought up the same way act the same? (Important keys: determinism, nature vs nature)
How does Frankfurt refute the principle of alternative possibilities?
A person is only MORALLY RESPONSIBLE for their action if they could have done otherwise.
Describe Frankfurt’s idea of Hierarchical Compatibilism
A person who acts of their own free will acts from desires that are held with more encompassing elements of themself. When a freely willing agent acts, his action emanate from them rather than something foreign. (Goes into First and Second order desires)
Describe the deep self view
You are morally responsible for an action ONLY if it expresses your deep self.
Describe the sane deep self view
A person acts freely only if 1) their action is controlled by first order desires 2) their first order desires are controlled by their deep self 3) their deep self is sane.
