4E - Concepts of Libertarianism

Give an introduction to libertarianism.

Give an introduction to libertarianism.

‣ The belief that humans are completely free to act ∴ morally responsible for their own actions
- Not compelled by forces outside their moral consciousness

‣ Humans = only free to choose within the constraints of physical natural laws
- E.g. I am not free to fly ∵ of gravity

Who, on the spec, is associated with philosophical libertarianism?

‣ Jean-Paul Sartre

Who, on the spec, is associated with scientific libertarianism?

‣ Dr Angela Sirigu

Who, on the spec, is associated with psychological libertarianism?

‣ Carl Rogers

Explain philosophical libertarianism, with reference to Jean-Paul Sartre.

‣ "there is no determinism - man is free, man is freedom"

‣ A person = conscious of their own existence, which allows people to have free will
- Able to think about, and consider, possible futures that might come from their actions

‣ ∴ humans can stand back from their lives and interpret them in different ways, which opens up a distance between a person's consciousness and the physical world, with its potentially determining influences
- He refers to this as "the gap", which allows humans to have free will

‣ Freedom can bring pain and anguish ∴ people try to avoid the reality of their own freedom
- They create a self-deception - "bad faith"; an attempt to escape pain by pretending that they are not free
- People try to convince themselves that their actions are determined by anything other than themselves

Explain Sartre's waiter illustration.

‣ A cafe waiter's actions = a little too "waiter-esque"

‣ He = "acting the part" of the waiter, shown through his exaggerated actions

‣ The role of a waiter determines his every action; he has become an automaton whose essence is to be a waiter

‣ The way he is acting belies that he is aware that he is not merely a waiter, but is freely deceiving himself - denying his own freedom

‣ He knows he is free and could give up being a waiter at any time but freely denies this to himself
- ∴ bad faith = paradoxical ∵ when acting in bad faith, the person = aware that they are free
- Partly an existentialist theory: claiming that people freely will themselves to be what they are

What does Sartre not deny?

‣ The inevitable contingencies of human life
• E.g. upbringing, physical characteristics
• These may appear to be a restriction but that is ∵ of what the person has made of them - they are free to revise the choices they have made

What two things does Sartre say that freedom is?

‣ A gift and a curse
- Gift: person always has freedom of making something out of their circumstances
- Curse: responsibility that a person must shape their lives; with total freedom comes total responsibility; even people who do not wish to take responsibility e.g. the waiter, are still making a free choice ∴ responsible for actions/inactions

Outline Sirigu's experiment.

‣ Electronically jolted the parietal cortex of seven patients undergoing brain surgery while awake

‣ Each claimed to feel a desire to move their limbs, wiggle fingers, or roll tongues

‣ Stronger electrical pulses convinced patients that they had done the movements, although they remained motionless

What did Haggard, a neuroscientist at UCL, say about Sirigu's study?

‣ Groundbreaking ∵ it pinpoints the part of the brain where volition resides

How do Jirtle and Waterland's findings link to scientific libertarianism?

‣ Found that small changes to a mother's diet could have a dramatic impact on the gene expression of the baby

‣ Through subsequent study of epigenetic switches, it would appear that humans have control over their genetic legacy
- ∴ "everything we do/eat/drink/smoke affects future generations" (Jirtle)
- "Epigenetic switches introduces the concept of free will into our idea of genetics (Jirtle)

Explain psychological libertarianism, with reference to Carl Rogers.

‣ Rogers advanced the psychological school of humanism by stressing that the human person is an active, creative, experiencing being who lives in the present and responds freely to current perceptions, relationships, and encounters

‣ He concedes that a human's life can, as Behaviourists support, become determined by external conditioning such as: parental, peer, societal pressures
- However, he rejected the permanent deterministic nature of Behaviourism ∵ he believed that humans can achieve free will through the process that he termed "self-actualisation"

What does Rogers' term, 'self-actualisation', mean?

‣ Acting on your true feelings

All children have their own ideas and thoughts about numerous aspects of life.
According to Rogers, for such ideas to flourish, the child needs an environment that provides them with three elements.
What are they?

1) Genuineness: child = in an environment where they can freely disclose and explore their own ideas
2) Acceptance: child = given unconditional positive love and regard
3) Empathy: child = understood by people

Without Rogers' three elements, what will happen?

• A healthy, free-willed personality will not develop - much like a plant will not grow without sunlight + water
‣ ∴ when parents, peers, or society disapprove of their freely willed thoughts, the child considers itself to be a rebel and thus thinks their freely willed thoughts/feelings are wrong
‣ They then reject who they really are, and act in a way that others want them to - e.g. may be homosexual but bury these self-willed feelings

According to Rogers, how can a person regain their will?

‣ By going down the path of self-actualisation
- We get in touch with our own feelings and act on them
- Unique, personal journey - "we are the best experts on ourselves"
- Every person can achieve their goals if they free themselves through self-actualisation

What does Rogers call self-actualising humans?

‣ "fully functioning persons"

What are Rogers' five characteristics of "fully functioning persons"?

1) Open to experience: both positive + negative experiences/emotions = accepted
2) Existential living: avoiding predetermined prejudges / preconceptions
3) Trust feelings: people's own decisions are the right ones
4) Creativity: creative free thinking + risk-taking
5) Fulfilled life: happy + satisfied

What did Sartre state regarding 'pour-soi' and 'en soi'.

‣ Humans are unconditionally free regardless of their circumstances
- Described this aspect of human existence as "being for itself" (pour-soi)

‣ In contrast to "being in itself" (en soi) which refers to things that have no say on what happens to it - its destiny is not its own, it lacks consciousness

What was Sartre's view regarding God?

‣ "there is no God, so man must rely on his own fallible insight. He cannot escape choosing"
- As there is no higher, controlling power, we are condemned to freedom

What was science traditionally used to illustrate?
How do recent developments differ from this?

‣ Determinism
‣ Recent developments (especially in genetics + cognitive neuroscience) potentially support libertarianism

What does Sirigu argue that her experiment tells us?

‣ That the parietal cortex makes predictions about potential future bodily movements
‣ However, it only sends one specific instruction to the premotor cortex ∴ the parietal cortex goes through a variety of possible movements but sends just one which then makes the move
‣ ∴ at some point, the parietal cortex 'wills' what particular movement to make from the variety
‣ "there are specific brain regions that are involved in the consciousness of your movement"
‣ ∴ there is a part of the brain that potentially allows humans to make a specific decision from several choices