Free Will Flashcards
Free will (4)
A) Capacity to choose or control one’s actions
B) Even when constrained there are still options
C) Manifest image (subjective view of self & world)
D) Shared across ages & cultures
Requirements for free will (3)
A) I intended to perform the action (Intentional agency)
B) I could have done otherwise (alternative possibilities)
C) What I did was under my control (casual control)
Intentional agency (3)
A) Representational states
B) Motivational states
C) Capacity to interact with environment in pursuit of desires & on the basis of beliefs
Instrumental rationality (3)
A) Internal consistency of beliefs
B) Coherent responses to new info from beliefs
C) Effective guidance of actions by desires, given beliefs
Determinism
Future is fully determined by the laws of nature
Laplace’s demon (2)
A) Demon who knows everything past, present & future exists -> there cannot be free will
B) Conceivability: possible in principle
Consequence argument (3)
A) No one has power over the facts of the past & the laws of nature
B) No one has power over the fact that the facts of the past & the laws of nature entail every fact of the future (i.e. determinism is true)
C) Therefore, no one has power over the facts of the future
Compatibilist answers (2)
A) Leeway compatibilism: alternative possibilities necessary for free will & possible in determinism
B) Sourcehood compatibilism: free will does not require alternative possibilities
Frankfurt-type cases (2)
A) When Jones does something Black does not want, he vocalized his wishes. If Jones didn’t act accordingly, Black would intervene. But Jones chooses to follow the wishes. -> Jones couldn’t have acted otherwise, but free will
B) What matters is the actual source of the action
First- & second-order desires (2)
- Desire to do smth
- Desires about desires
Self-identification
Free will requires self-identifying with the action & desires behind it
Causal control (2)
A) Weak: self-control, acting in accordance to one’s beliefs & desires
B) Strong: control over alternative actions & choices
Mental causation (2)
A) Intentions = epiphenomena (we merely witness them)
B) But: essential to maifest image & sciences
Causal exclusion argument (3)
A) Causal closure principle: any physically realized effect has a physical cause
B) Causal exclusion principle: If an effect has a physical cause, then it does not have any other cause at the same time
C) Therefore, there cannot be any mental causation
Problems of causal exclusion argument (3)
A) Infinite regress will call into question all causation
B) Even if there is a fundamental level of reality, causation might not work there (e.g. quantum physics)
C) Causal reasoning is necessary for humanities
Libet’s experiment (3)
A) We unconsciously decide half a second before acting
B) Experiment: flick wrist whenever you feel like it
C) Intention -> brain signal -> action
(Brain signal/readiness potential happens before awareness thereof)
Critique of Libet (3)
A) What if readiness potential is merely readiness to act, whichever way we may decide?
B) Experimental conditions are not representative of real life
C) Did show that there is a causal network leading up to decisions
Conditions for moral responsibility (2)
A) Control condition: agent must have control over his actions
B) Epistemic condition: agent needs to have knowledge about the consequences of their actions
Moral responsibility (4)
A) Not causal responsibility (forward looking & no blame & no praise)
B) Not social responsibility = duties (forward-looking & blame & praise)
C) Not legal responsibility (backward-looking & only blame)
D) = backward-looking & blame & praise
Hard determinism (2)
A) If no free will then no moral responsibility
B) Medicalize, not criminalize wrongdoing; rehabilitate, don’t punish
Reactive attitudes (4)
A) Consequentialists over-intellectualize responsibility practices: they are rooted in unchangeable reactive attitudes
B) Personal attitudes: x reacts to will expressed in y’s action towards x
C) Impersonal attitudes: x reacts to will expressed in y’s actions towards z
D) Self-reactive attitudes: x reacts to the will expressed in x’s actions towards y
