Free Will

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Recommended: Free will vs determinism comparison

1) The three main assumptions we have discussed in class for the cause of events are Hard Determinism, Libertarianism, and Compatibilism, which is divided into Traditional Compatibilism and Deep-self Compatibilsim. As defined in lecture, Hard Determinism is the assumption that “the future is determined by the past,” Libertarianism is the assumption that “human beings are free,” and Compatibilism as a whole is the assumption that “free will is compatible with determinism” (Farley, PHIL 101, 2014.) Further delving into Compatibilism, Traditional Compatablism is the assumption that “we are free as long as we can do what we want to do without being constrained by outside forces,” and Deep-Self Compatibilism is the assumption that “we are free as long as we act on those desires that we deeply identify with” (Farley, PHIL 101, 2014.) The problem of free will forces us to reject one of the following: human beings have free will, the world is deterministic, or free will is incompatible with determinism because allowing each of these assumptions to exist would generate a contradiction. The most plausible solution to prevent a contradiction would be to reject that human beings have free will, while allowing the assumptions that the world is deterministic and free will is incompatible with determinism. It is plausible that the world is deterministic and that free will is incompatible with determinism, and thus, reject that the humans have free will. In other words, Hard Determinism is more plausible than Libertarianism and Compatibilism. Although it certainly seems to us that we have the power to rationally choose a course of action from among various alternatives, all previous events directly or indirectly cause us to form our decisions. A...

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...no power over the future necessary consequences of ‘x;’ thus, we have no power over our future actions; if we have no power over our future actions, then we’re not responsible for our future actions; thus, we’re not responsible for our future actions. (Farley, PHIL 101, 2014.) While this argument counter Moorean Response in that it shows that we are actually not responsible for our actions because we do not have free will, it also works against Traditional Compatibilism and Deep-Self Compatibilism. For Traditional Compatibilism, Van Inwayen’s Consequence Argument takes into account the past and the laws of nature, two things humans have no control of that can be constraining outside forces that prevent us from doing what we want. As for Deep-Self Compatibilism, the past and laws of nature can also prevent us from acting on those desires that we deeply identify with.

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