Libertarianism

Question 1

Basics: Libertarianism

Answer 1

• We are completely free and our lives our fully within our control in terms of moral behaviour.
• Morally responsible for our actions.
• Incompatible with determininism. (Incompatabilists)
• We have free will
• We are free agents, not puppets on a string.

Question 2

Libertarian Peter Van Inwagen said:

Answer 2

• Free will is incompatible with determinism

- Idea of ‘fork in the road’: We consciously make choices in life to take paths we wish to follow.

Question 3

David Hume (711-1776) described liberty in his ‘Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding’:

Answer 3

‘By liberty, then, we can only mean a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will; that is, if we choose to remain at rest, we may; if we choose to move, we also may.’

Question 4

Plato (428-347 BCE) said in ‘Republic’:

Answer 4

‘Your destiny shall not be allotted to you, but you shall choose it for yourself’

Question 5

Personality:

Answer 5

• Personality is empirical concept governed by causal laws, which are capable of scientific explanation and prediction.
• Personality formed by heredity and environment and limits the choices one has, thus make us more likely to choose certain kinds of actions and not others.
• Our personality limits the choices & understanding available in a moral dilemma, means we are more inclined to choose a particular option.
• e.g. A youth who is brought up surrounded by violence is more likely to choose a career of violence and crime BUT this is not inevitable.
• If the youth is aware of the significance of his actions it is possible that their moral self will counteract the tendencies of his personality and cause him to do something else e.g. become a police officer.

Question 6

Moral self:

Answer 6

• Ethical concept
• Comes into operation when we decide what to do in situations of our moral choice.
• Has the ability to override our personality in an ethical dilemma to make a causally undetermined choice which will satisfy our moral sense of being.
• Most often involves deciding between self-interest and duty.
• What distinguishes humans from animals. Humans can make moral choice.

Question 7

Moral self scholar: C A Campell:

Answer 7

‘In the act of deciding whether to put forth or withhold the moral effort required to resist temptation and rise to duty, is to be found an act which is free in the sense that required of moral responsibility. An act which is the self is sole author, and of which it is true to say that ‘it could be’ (or after the event, ‘could have been’)

Question 8

3 additional arguments

Experience:

Answer 8

We have the direct and certain experience of being self-determining. E.g. We choose what uni to go to. We choose what to wear.

• This experience is common to everyone and even extends to those whose moral choices are sometimes restricted (e.g. drug addict).
• We all have the immediate experience of decision making.

Question 9

3 additional arguments:

The Act of decision-making:

Answer 9

• We all make decisions and this demonstrates that we posses free will.
• This is because we can only make decisions about what to do if we do not already know what we are going to do, and if it is in our power to do what we are thinking of doing.
• E.g. Uni student considering whether to pay certain amount for uni room. He may take into consideration the size of room etc. IF the student has decided to pay they had made a decision by weighing up the pro’s and con’s.
• They are capable of doing A or B and if they cannot do either A or B (i.e. go not money so couldn’t afford room anyway) than there is no choice.
• The student could not make choice if only one option was open to them.

Question 10

3 additional arguments:

What is necessarily true and what is contingently true:

Answer 10

Necessarily true: ‘All bachelors are married’. Not possible to be false as an ‘unmarried’ man is precisely what is meant by the concept of ‘bachelor’.

Contingently true: ‘ Miss Lugsden has hazel eyes’. Contingently true as it could be false as your eyesight could be deceiving you, as the possibility of error always exists.

*This argument was given by libertarians in response to the determinists view, that just because people believe the a free, that is no to say they actually are, as many people can believe on the evidence of certain experiences that things are true, but they are not necessarily so. E.g. ‘my wife is faithful’ believing this to be true, but may not be so.