Free Will

Principle of Alternative Possibilities

a person is free/responsible for their actions only if they are capable of having chosen or acted otherwise

if free will exists…

• an individual is capable of choosing and acting upon their choices

• therefore, the ultimate sources of our actions lie in us (to some degree) and not completely in factors beyond our control

• dependent on the existence of I; there must be an agent to have agency

  • to materialists, only causal vectors exist → free will does not exist

Hard Determinism/Incompatibilism

free will does not exist; all human behavior is fixed by some combination of natural and social laws

• everything in the universe (at a macroscopic level) is entirely determined by causal law

• causal thesis

• traditionally tend to be monistic materialists

• the name incompatibilism - determinism is incompatible with the idea of free will

reasons to support Hard Determinism

1. causal thesis - every event has a cause

2. implausible to claim that acts are wholly uncaused, humans are a combination of nature and nurture

3. modern science

causal thesis

1. everything in the universe happens due to causal laws, later events occur because of prior events

2. I make choices and decisions, and I act, these are events in the universe

3. therefore, these occur on basis of prior events in accordance with causal law

4. therefore I have no free will

• assuming antecendent causes are sufficient conditions to produce the effect

Indeterminism argument against Determinism

• at the micro/quantum level of physical reality, things happen randomly

• thus, hard determinism is only relevant at the macro level

• however, randomness does not suggest free will

Humean critique of Hard Determinism

there is no fully adequate explanation of the difference between one event occurring after another and one event being caused by another

Compatibilism/Soft Determinism

hard determinism can be reconciled with free will

• Classical/Traditional Compatibilism

• New/Hierarchical/Deep Self Compatibilism

Classical/Traditional Compatibilism

an agent is free when acting according to reasons rather than external coercive pressures, a free action requires

1. the action must be caused by will

2. the action must not be externally constrained

argument against Classical/Traditional Compatibilism

Taylor’s Ingenious Physiologist:

1. the person’s action is caused by his will

2. the person’s action is not externally constrained

• However, the person controlled by the physiologist is not in control of his own will, and therefore his actions are not free, contrary to the classical/traditional compatibilist principles.

• Thus, traditional compatibilism is insufficient in considering the internal processes behind the will of the person.

New/Hierarchical/Deep Self Compatibilism

• first order desires - desires that are directed on objects or states of affairs (e.g. I desire to smoke)

• second order volitions - a desire that is directed on a first order desire (e.g. I desire not to desire to smoke/I desire not to be the sort of person who desires to smoke)

1. According to compatibilist Harry Frankfurt, metacognitive reflection (second order volitions) indicates agency, recognition of what the agent decisively identifies with, freedom whether or not desire is acted on.

2. Persons have a capacity for reflective self-evaluation, can reflect on desired volitions we ought to have.

Determinist argument against Compatibilism

• We do not freely choose our beliefs and desires.

• Second order volitions are thrust on us by our environment in conjunction with innate dispositions, therefore anything that occurs as a result of second order volitions ultimately is a consequence of event causation.

Libertarianism

• human beings are agents by virtue of the fact that they possess higher-order consciousness

• human beings have free will in the sense that there are some actions exempt from event causation, predicated on agent causation

• act originating ex nihilo - an act where the individual is the sole/decisive cause of the act

• free actions are those caused by agents (agent causation vs. event causation)

argument from deliberation in favor of Libertarianism

• Determinists engage in radical reductionism, reducing everything to causal events. However, not all causes are equal.

• It is obvious (the contrary does not have overwhelming evidence) that there is a Self of which we are all aware that clearly deliberates and makes choices between alternative possibilities.

• Since it is obvious on reflection that there is a deliberating Self, which has the option to choose between alternative possibilities, we must have free will/agency. Agency implies deep reflection on what we ought to desire, and the ability to make choices.

• Our experience of freedom is evidence that we have freedom, and there is no good reason to doubt this experience.

argument from moral responsibility in favor of Libertarianism

1. If determinism is true and our actions are merely the product of the laws of nature and antecedent states of affairs, then humans have no degree of choice in their actions.

2. If one is not able to choose, one cannot be held responsible for his actions.

3. If determinism is true, one is not responsible for their actions.

4. Our belief in moral responsibility is self-evident, at least as strong as the belief in universal causality.

5. Given that we have moral responsibilities, determinism cannot be accepted.

6. Therefore, we must reject the notion of determinism even if we cannot give a full explanatory account of how agents choose.

7. Counter-argument: circular, relies on the assumption that humans are responsible for their actions and free, that moral responsibility is inherent and not a result of societal conditioning

Substance Dualism argument in favor of Libertarianism

• Physical circumstances are governed by the laws of nature.

• Given the existence of the non-physical self, the activity of the agent’s mind or soul would not be among physical circumstances and would therefore not be governed by laws of nature.