Soft Determinism

Question 1

Example that we are not morally responsible sometimes for our actions

Answer 1

When we are forced to do something under threat of violence

Question 2

What do soft determinists argue?

Answer 2

Determinism does not rule out free will. Freedom to act is acting voluntarily and not out of coercion. Our actions might be hypothetically free. That is to say, were our upbringing and resulting psychology a little different, an alternative choice could have been made.

Question 3

Give a quote from Ayer

Answer 3

If I suffered from a compulsion neurosis…then I should not be acting freely. But if I do it now, I shall be acting freely

Question 4

Explain Ayer’s quote

Answer 4

Freedom requires determinism in order to make sense of things, otherwise everything would be random with no explanation. Freedom involves the empowerment to act and this control the desired effect

Question 5

What did Robert Kane and Vardy argue?

Answer 5

They argue that true freedom may never be achieved because of the complexity of genetic and environmental influences on us, however this does not mean that freedom is not possible at all

Question 6

What did Hume believe?

Answer 6

Free acts are not uncaused. Instead,they are caused by our choices and our choices are determined by our beliefs, desires and personalities. They are made as part of a process that has a causal chain of events and so are determined.

Question 7

Criticisms of soft determinism

Answer 7

• Hard determinists: failing to recognise to which human freedom is limited
• Libertarians: failing to recognise the true extent of freedom. They call free choice is not free choice but something else
• Very difficult to get an objective view on the way in which different forces come to beer us when we try to make a decision
• we may be much less free than we think, and we may not be in a position to know how free that is. Eg. Going to school/education