Free Will Theory

Though no theory concerning this issue has been entirely successful, many theories present alternatives as to how it can be approached. Two of the most basic metaphysical theories concerning freedom and determinism are soft determinism and hard determinism. Soft determinism attempts to make the disagreeing data of determinism and freedom compatible. The theory of soft determinism rests on three fundamental claims: (1) the deterministic concept that human behaviour is causally determined; (2) that there is freedom in voluntary behaviour, so long as there is no physical impediment or constraint upon the action; and (3) that the cause of the voluntary behaviour (which is possible in the absence of impediments or constraints) is an internal state of the agent of the action. According to soft determinism, therefore, we are responsible for our actions on o... ... middle of paper ... ...er own actions.

The aim of this essay is to prove the reliability of and why Libertarianism is the most coherent of the three Free Will and Determinism views. It refers to the idea of human free will being true, that one is not determined, and therefore, they are morally responsible. In response to the quote on the essay, I am disagreeing with Wolf. This essay will be further strengthened with the help of such authors as C.A. Campell, R. Taylor and R.M.

Compatibilists, like A.J Ayer and Susan Wolf, define and defend their acceptance of both determinism and the existence of free will. Ayer finds two issues with “hard” compatibilism. He doubts that every event has a direct cause, which is at the core of determinism. While scientists have laws and theories that determine how actions are caused, like gravity and motion, there are still phenomena that science cannot explain their causes.

Chisholm. They present similar arguments, which essentially demonstrate that one could have done otherwise and one is the sole author of the volition. I will present the three most common arguments in support of Libertarianism, present an objection against Libertarianism and attempt to rebut it as well as reject one main argument from the other views. As a result, this essay will prove that one is held morally responsibly for any act that was performed or chosen by them, which qualify as a human act. The Libertarian view consists of one’s actions not being determined; however, have free will, which is a precondition for moral responsibility.

Free will is the ability to act out of one's own volition; to make a choice where you could have possible chosen to do something else. Freedom is being able to act in a way that is not predetermined. There are 3 broad philosophical approaches to the concept of free will. Firstly, hard determinism, which states that we have no free will and therefore cannot be held morally responsible for our actions. Secondly, we have soft determinism (compatibilism), which says that both determinism and free will are true and so we can be held morally responsible.

Along with an argument usually comes a counter-argument or rebuttal. The main question about the mind-body issue is how can us humans determine the interaction between mind and matter. I believe property dualism is a logic, justifiable response because it separates the mental entity from brain states, and shows how it can be related to physical substances. The knowledge argument helps convey this view because it shows how non-physical properties such as consciousness, can be proven in any given person. The problems of interaction argument is a well structured rebuttal against property dualism, mostly because it brings about the issue that the mind is not a physical entity, thus it 's not possible for a non-physical substance to interact with a physical substance.

A mother should not have the right to use drugs or drink alcohol while she is pregnant, it is unfair for the child not to even have a chance for a normal life. If a mother beat her baby and was reported to the child welfare board they would be thrown in jail without a second thought, but just because a child is not yet born doesn't that mean that a mother can do anything she wants to it. Take a child who has been born, then goes through the pain of having an abusive parent. If the parents are exposed to the authorities they will go to jail and lose the rights to the child, and with proper counseling and therapy the child will live a normal life. Yet, if the child is unborn, the mother can do whatever she would like, even if it means harming the baby and the authorities can do nothing.

Tenure should be reformed because teachers on tenure who are incompetent are protected, the process of firing teachers on tenure is unnecessarily strenuous, and students are not benefited. Teachers on tenure are protected under every circumstance, even poor performance. According to educational activist Geoffrey Canada, tenure is judging teachers by how long they have been at a school rather than their ability to teach, which is illogical. On tenure, a teacher could stop teaching content completely and they would not get fired because of their seniority. This is not fair because the students are not gaining knowledge.

What needs to be illustrated is that an individual interpretation of this long standing philosophical argument is that there are many implications of determinism. That is , determinism does not work alone but is compatible with free will not unlike the ‘yin-yang’ theory whereby one relies upon the other. In light of this, what are the implications of determinism in the ability to understand free will? Hard Determinists believe that individuals do not have free will, which then questions moral responsibility. As opposed to this are the compatibilists and soft determinists who believe in both the compatibility of determination and free will.

Despite the differences between free will and determinism or fatalism, there is some middle ground. Libertarian is the belief that free will is affected by human nature but retains ability to choose contrary to our nature and desires. This is a balance between the ideas from free will and determinism. This is a good stance because of its incorporation of both views. This whole argument about free will is purely subjective.