Free Will & The Self

Question 1

Front

Answer 1

Back

Question 2

What is free will?

Answer 2

The capacity of an agent to act otherwise.

Question 3

What is determinism?

Answer 3

The thesis that the state of the world at any given time is entirely determined by its state at any prior time.

Question 4

What is the problem of free will?

Answer 4

The apparent conflict between the intuitive belief that we have free will and the seemingly plausible thesis of determinism.

Question 5

What is hard determinism?

Answer 5

The view that free will and determinism are incompatible, and because determinism is true, we do not have free will.

Question 6

What is compatibilism?

Answer 6

The view that free will and determinism are compatible.

Question 7

What is libertarianism?

Answer 7

The view that free will and determinism are incompatible, and because we have free will, determinism must be false.

Question 8

What is moral responsibility?

Answer 8

The idea that agents can be held accountable for their actions.

Question 9

What is Strawson’s Basic Argument?

Answer 9

To be truly responsible, we must be responsible for the way we are, which is impossible due to an infinite regress.

Question 10

What is the pragmatic justification of punishment/reward?

Answer 10

Justifying punishment or reward based on its beneficial effects, like deterrence or encouraging good behavior.

Question 11

What is ‘true’ responsibility?

Answer 11

Responsibility that would justify punishment/reward without relying on pragmatic effects.

Question 12

What does ‘could have done otherwise’ mean?

Answer 12

A criterion for free action; interpretations vary by compatibilists and determinists.

Question 13

What is Ayer’s view on constraint vs. causality?

Answer 13

Freedom is opposed to constraint, not causality. An action can be free if it’s not constrained, even if causally determined.

Question 14

Ayer’s analysis of ‘could have done otherwise’ includes which conditions?

Answer 14

1) Would have acted otherwise if chosen, 2) Action was voluntary, 3) Not compelled.

Question 15

What are reactive attitudes?

Answer 15

Emotional responses like gratitude, resentment, and blame we direct at others’ actions.

Question 16

What are the two conceptions of free will (FREE WILL1 and FREE WILL2)?

Answer 16

FREE WILL1: No causal determination (hard determinist). FREE WILL2: No constraints (compatibilist).

Question 17

Frankfurt’s distinction between free action and free will?

Answer 17

Free action: doing what one wants. Free will: wanting what one wants to want.

Question 18

What is a first-order desire?

Answer 18

A basic desire to do or have something (e.g., wanting to eat).

Question 19

What is a second-order desire?

Answer 19

A desire about one’s own desires (e.g., wanting not to want something).

Question 20

What is a second-order volition?

Answer 20

A second-order desire that a specific first-order desire become effective in action.

Question 21

What is a wanton?

Answer 21

An agent with first-order desires but no second-order volitions.

Question 22

What is a person (in Frankfurt’s sense)?

Answer 22

An agent with second-order volitions.

Question 23

What is freedom of action?

Answer 23

The freedom to do what one wants to do.

Question 24

What is freedom of will?

Answer 24

The freedom to want what one wants to want.

Question 25

What is the logical consistency of time travel?

Answer 25

The issue of whether time travel leads to logical contradictions.

Question 26

What is the physical possibility of time travel?

Answer 26

Whether the laws of physics allow time travel.

Question 27

What is a consistent time travel story?

Answer 27

A time travel narrative that avoids logical contradictions.

Question 28

What is an inconsistent time travel story?

Answer 28

A time travel narrative that leads to logical contradictions (e.g., grandfather paradox).

Question 29

What is the grandfather paradox?

Answer 29

A paradox where a time traveler prevents their own existence by altering the past.

Question 30

What is Lewis’s response to the grandfather paradox?

Answer 30

A time traveler has the ability but will never succeed in changing the past due to contradictions.

Question 31

What is personal identity?

Answer 31

The philosophical question of what makes a person the same over time.

Question 32

What is numerical identity?

Answer 32

Being the very same entity.

Question 33

What is qualitative identity?

Answer 33

Being indistinguishable from something else.

Question 34

What is Leibniz's Law?

Answer 34

If x = y, then x and y have exactly the same properties.

Question 35

What is the identity of indiscernibles?

Answer 35

If x and y share all properties, they are identical (controversial).

Question 36

What is the Ship of Theseus?

Answer 36

A thought experiment about whether an object remains the same if all parts are replaced.

Question 37

What is the teletransportation thought experiment?

Answer 37

A thought experiment exploring identity through duplication or transformation of a person.

Question 38

What are biological theories of personal identity?

Answer 38

Theories that base identity on biological continuity.

Question 39

What are psychological theories of personal identity?

Answer 39

Theories that base identity on psychological continuity.

Question 40

What are further fact theories of personal identity?

Answer 40

Theories that posit a non-physical fact, like a soul, as the basis for identity.

Question 41

What are reductionist theories of personal identity?

Answer 41

Views that deny identity is a deep fact beyond physical/psychological continuity.

Question 42

What is compatibilism?

Answer 42

The philosophical view that free will and determinism are compatible.

Question 43

What is a constraint?

Answer 43

A limitation or restriction on someone's ability to act freely.

Question 44

What is determinism?

Answer 44

The philosophical view that all events are causally determined by prior events according to the laws of nature.

Question 45

What is a first-order desire?

Answer 45

A basic desire for something (e.g., food, pleasure).

Question 46

What is a free action?

Answer 46

An action performed without constraint and, according to some views, in accordance with one's will.

Question 47

What is free will?

Answer 47

The capacity of an agent to make choices unconstrained by prior causes or external forces.

Question 48

What is hard determinism?

Answer 48

The view that determinism is true and that free will is impossible.

Question 49

What is the identity of indiscernibles?

Answer 49

The principle that if two entities have exactly the same properties, they are identical.

Question 50

What is Leibniz's Law?

Answer 50

The principle that if two entities are identical, they must have all the same properties.

Question 51

What is libertarianism?

Answer 51

The view that free will exists and that determinism is false.

Question 52

What is moral responsibility?

Answer 52

The state of being accountable and blameworthy (or praiseworthy) for one's actions.

Question 53

What is numerical identity?

Answer 53

The relation that holds between something and itself; being the very same entity.

Question 54

What is a person in Frankfurt's sense?

Answer 54

An agent who has second-order volitions.

Question 55

What is qualitative identity?

Answer 55

The relation that holds between two or more things that share the same properties; being indistinguishable.

Question 56

What are reactive attitudes?

Answer 56

Emotional responses (e.g., gratitude, resentment, blame) to the actions of others.

Question 57

What is reductionism in personal identity?

Answer 57

The view that personal identity is not a deep, further fact beyond continuity of physical and psychological states.

Question 58

What is a second-order desire?

Answer 58

A desire about one's own desires.

Question 59

What is a second-order volition?

Answer 59

A second-order desire that one's first-order desire be effective in action.

Question 60

What is a wanton?

Answer 60

An agent with first-order desires but no second-order volitions.