Free Will - Scholars & quotes Flashcards
Davis Hume on the free will debate
he question of whether humans are truly free is in fact, as Hume put it “the most contentious question in metaphysics”
Baron Holbach on Determinism
everyone’s lives are unceasingly modified by causes, whether visible or concealed, over which he [humanity] has no control”
he was the first to suggest the claim that human actions are governed by physical law just like inanimate objects are
Pierre-Simon Laplace on physical determinism
Laplace’s Demon (from ‘A philosophical essay on probabilities”) :
An omniscient demon who can attain all knowledge up to the present moment can therefore by the laws of physics know where every atom is currently and by extension essentially predict the future as it knows exactly where they will go next
Quark’s criticism of physical determinism
Quark’s model of atoms shows that the fundamental building blocks of the universe behave randomly
David Hume’s criticism of physical determinism
Cause and effect is just an illusion - we link patterns that happen in constant conjunction as being things that have caused one another
Biological determinism 2007 murder case
Abdelmalek Bayout:
he possesses the ‘violent gene’ so moral responsibility diminished. Sentence was shortened.
John B. Watson on Psychological determinism
Behaviour can be predicted and controlled according to prior causes. “Men are built, not born” - ‘The Ways of behaviourism’ by Watson
Freud, psychological determinism
mind is formed from 1. nature then 2. nurture. sense of self is comprised of: 1. physical self that exists at birth, 2. surrounding environment that goes on to shape us. Both are factors outside of our control so no free will
Sarte, psychological determinism
“Man is nothing else but the sum of his actions” the fact we have no essence gives us free will. only convincing to a dualist.
Spinoza, Libertarianism is an illusion
those who believe in free will “dream with their eyes open”. The experience of deliberation is not admissible as evidence for existence of free will
CA Campbell, defence of Libertarianism
for free will to exists two statements must be satisfied:
- principle of alternate possibilities
- agent causation
Decartes on libertarianism
compares the human will to that of a deity to suggest we have free will. is a dualist, mind is not bound by the laws of nature
David Hume and Kai Nielsen, SD fighting L
DH: It is universally recognised that nothing exists without a cause.
KN: freedom is opposite to constraint.
they both redefine freedom: positive ‘freedom to’ vs negative ‘freedom from’.
Hume, SD fight HD
We may have been shaped to act a certain way but we still have to intend to do it. External causes can become habits, then ingrained as ‘principles of the mind’.
HDs say SDs have also changed a definition. This time of causation - how can you separate external and internal?
Spinoza, libertarianism is an illusion - Conclusion quote
“men believe themselves to be free simply because they are conscious of their own actions, knowing nothing of the causes by which they are determined”
