Compatibilismfree will philosophy grade 12.ppt

Philosphy

1. Determinism, Free Will, and
Moral Responsibility

Traditional threats to free will:
Fatalism (every event was meant).
Predestination (every event is willed
by God). Divine foreknowledge
(every event is eternally known by
God).

Determinism: Every event is caused
by a sequence of antecedent events.

2. Does determinism make
free will an illusion?

Libertarianism: We
are free,
determinism is false.

Hard determinism:
“Free will” is an
illusion, our behavior
is determined by
genes and
environment.

Compatibilism (soft
determinism): Our
behavior is causally
determined but we are
responsible for what we
do. Our capacity to
restrain present
impulse to avoid
predictable harm does
not depend on escaping
causal determination.

3. Obstacles to
Incompatibilism
Libertarianism (incompatibilist indeterminism):
Introduces a mysterious sort of agency that
transcends physical laws. Implies that there can be no
science of human behavior. Dualism (the belief that
the self is immaterial) is no longer a viable position (no
explanatory power, inconsistent with evolutionary
theory,….)
Hard determinism (incompatibilist determinism): By
regarding belief in free will as illusory, hard
determinism eliminates moral responsibility and
makes deliberation futile. But, the ability to deliberate
is an evolutionary advantage, not an illusion.

4. The dilemma of determinism

Determinism
seems to imply a
causal nexus of
necessity such that
every event which
occurs implies and
is implied by every
other event.
(William James)

A man murders his
wife. To have regret
for that event implies
having regret for every
event in the history of
the universe. Regret
all, or regret nothing.

Aristotle on
independent causal
chains and chance
events.

5. The Evolution of Agency
The human brain is the
product of six million
years of evolution. The
complexity of our
brains provides us with
the unique capacity for
language. Linguistic
ability enables us to
anticipate future events
and to deliberate about
how to realize or avoid
possible outcomes.

A rational agent is a
utility maximizer. A UM
deliberates about
alternative outcomes,
assigns an expected
utility to each, and then
attempts to realize the
outcome with the
highest expected
utility. A UMs actions
are caused and free.

6. Compatibilist Deliberation
Free action: An
uncompelled action
that an agent chooses
to perform as the
result of a process of
rational deliberation.
Free choices are
caused by a process of
deliberation.
Here I stand, I can do no
other.” Luther