Hard Determinism

786 Words2 Pages

Hard Determinism There are several viewpoints which consider whether we are free when making decisions and taking courses of action. One of these perspectives is hard determinism. J. Mackie described hard determinism as: 'The view that all actions are explicable in terms of their causes and are therefore inevitable' (J. Mackie) This outlines the basic idea that no action or decision is free. This is based upon the notion that for an action to happen there are a series of factors that ensure the occurrence of that action: '…all our choices, decisions, intentions, other mental events, and our actions are no more than effects of other necessitated events' (T. Honderich) Therefore we are not free to act as we wish due to our actions being determined previously by prior events. As Ekstrom suggested, apparent forking paths appear in life, which seem to give us our own choice, however we are conditioned to take the path we choose by such factors as our upbringing and culture, so our choice is not one of our own but rather that of conditioning. For example, a simple action such as choosing what to wear in the morning may appear on the surface a 'free' choice but on closer inspection it is not at all. We are all affected initially by our social and environmental background; taking into account current trends, our peers and even the environment and activities of the day you are preparing for would affect the choice. Religious and cultural background may also influence this decision considering the fact that a Muslim woman would have to think carefully about her dress so as to be dressed modestly as her religion state... ... middle of paper ... ...elled sinful if the act they committed was made through no decision of their own? An example of this presented by J. Hospers compares a kleptomaniac and a thief. In a world governed by hard determinism neither is blameworthy as neither person has a choice with regard to the act of theft. Even the thief who was conditioned by past cause, as mentioned previously. To summarise, hard determinism focuses on the concept that human beings are not responsible for their actions as they do not decide them freely, rather they are determined for the individual by specific factors and past causes. Although we may believe that we are free to make our own decisions, whatever they may be, we are sadly misunderstood: 'All events are totally predetermined by other events and so freedom of choice is an illusion' (J. Mackie)

Open Document