PHL221 Free Will, Morality, Final Exam Study Set

Determinism

The idea that people's behavior is produced primarily by factors outside of their willful control; laws of nature and initial conditions of the universe.

Indeterminism

The idea the people's behavior is based on chance; determined by the laws of nature, initial conditions of the universe, and an element of randomness.

Common Sense

Humans have free will because they could have acted or done otherwise based on morally correct decisions.

Galen Strawson

Philosopher who argues that moral responsibility is compatible with the idea that there is no free will. You do what you do because of the way you are (mental factors like beliefs, preferences, character traits, explain our actions)

Strawson's Basic Argument

1. You do what you do because of the way you are.

2. To be truly morally responsible for what you do, you must be truly responsible for the way you are: at least in certain crucial mental respects.

3a. If you are morally responsible for the way you mentally are, then you are morally responsible for the principles that lead you to choose to be this way.

3b. If you are morally responsible for the way you mentally are now, then you are morally responsible for the way that you were mentally last year.

Compatibilism

The belief that free will and determinism are compatible ideas, and that it is possible to believe both without being logically inconsistent.

Incompatibilism

Free will and determinism are incompatible; you cannot have both free will and determined actions.

Libertarianism

An idea that not all events are determined. Non-determined events can be caused either by chance or by the agent. Agents have free will.

Hard Determinism

Implies that all events are determined, or part a casual chain going back before the agent was born. Agents do not have free will.

Ways to Be An Incompatibilist

One denies that we have free will.

The other leaves open the possibility.

Second-Order Desire

A desire about a desire, you want to want something

According to Strawson, rewards are

not just

True or False: Compatibilists accept the conclusion of Strawson's Basic Argument.

False, Compatibilists believe free will and determined actions are compatible. Strawson's Basic Argument says there is no free will.

Strawson claims that in order to be morally responsible for a particular action you must be morally responsible for...

the way you are

True or False: Strawson thinks that we do not have ultimate responsibility.

True

The problem that Strawson raises for the libertarian response to his Basic Argument is that...

interdeterminism is inconsistent with moral responsibility.

Prudential Reason

Having prudential reasons for believing something means that you believe because it is in your interests to do so; self-interested reasons given your goal.

Morality

Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.

According to Kant, how many categorical imperatives are there?

one

According to Kant, it is wrong to treat someone as

a mere means to our ends

According to Kant, morality can be determined by reason alone.

True

Hypothetical imperatives apply

to only those who have particular goals

Kant thinks that taking one's own life can be permissible in rare circumstances.

False

Triage

Process used to determine the priority of treatment for a person according to the severity of a the person's condition and likelihood of benefit from the treatment; deciding who gets saved and who doesn't.

Utilitarianism

A type of consequentialism that adds a specific theory of to good: utility, or net happiness (total happiness minus total unhappiness).Kan

Consquentialism

One is morally required to act in whichever way would have the best consequences (or at least as good as any alternative possible act).

Hypothetical Imperative

A moral obligation that applies only if one desires the implied goal

Categorical Imperative

An ethical guideline in which an action is evaluated in terms of what would happen if everybody else in the same situation, or category, acted the same way.

Formula of Universal Law

Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. (categorical)

Formula of Humanity

Act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as a means, but always at the same time as an end. (categorical)

The Fulfillment View

find your passion and do what you love, don't settle for what is expected of you, or conveniently recognized as good, stresses subjective element of a meaningful life

Susan Wolf

expresses the meaning of life and why it matters, life should feel fulfilling (rather than boring) to do what you love

Descartes "dualism" theory

the mind and body are separate yet intertwined

Princess Elizabeth

Elizabeth befriended Descartes after becoming interested in his work. However, she questioned how an immaterial mind and a material body could interact and mutually influence each other. She believed behavior resulted from free will and was not merely reactive to external stimuli. If the mind causes the body to move, the mind must either be in physical contact with something (some part of the brain) or else be spatially extended.

Princess Elizabeth challenges Descartes's dualist theory of mind by suggesting that a malicious demon could be deceiving us.

False

Princess Elizabeth challenges Descartes's dualist theory of mind by suggesting that it's unclear how an immaterial mind or soul is capable of moving a material body.

True

Substance Dualism

The mind is a non-physical particular (or thing) separate from the body and the brain (Decartes)

Property Dualism

Mental properties are not identical to physical properties (Chalmers)

Naturalistic Dualism

One substance with physical and mental properties, compatible with a scientific view of the world

Chalmers argues that substance dualism is compatible with a scientific understanding of the world.

False

Chalmers argues that property dualism is compatible with a scientific understanding of the world.

True

Materialism

Philosophical position that all processes, phenomena, and objects/beings can be explained as manifestations or results of matter.

Chalmers explicitly assumes the following in Zombie Argument against materialism

It is conceivable that zombies exist

A good objection to Chalmers's Zombie Argument would target a premise like...

It is conceivable that zombies exist (Premise 1, objections target a premise)

Zombies (Chalmers)

Atom-to-atom identical to a conscious being, but no conscious (NOT a reanimated corpse and don't actually exist)

For Haslanger, in an ideal world...

There would be no races or genders

For Jeffers, in an ideal world...

Races would become cultural groups

According to Barnes, examples like __________ raise worries about biological realism

Deena (a feminine woman who doesn't know she's biologically intersex)

Social Constructionism

Races exist and are social categories

Biological Realism

Races exist and are biological categories

Anti-Realism

Races don't exist

According the Galen Strawson's "Basic Argument," humans can be morally responsible only if determinism is true.

False

According the Galen Strawson's "Basic Argument," humans can be morally responsible only if interdeterminism is true.

False

Compatibilism

The belief that free will and determinism are compatible ideas, and that it is possible to believe both without being logically inconsistent.

Frankfurt

The willing/unwilling addict; desire about a desire

The compatibilist response to the dilemma of determinism says...

we can be morally responsible even if determinism is true

One libertarian response to the dilemma of determinism says

the self is distinct from one's character, personality, and motivational structures

Consequentialism

One is morally required to act in whichever way would have the best consequences

Kantian Ethics

people should be treated as ends and never purely as means to the ends of others; living in a community of equals, governed by rules that apply to everyone.

Consider someone who promises to pay you back if you buy them lunch today with no intention of keeping their promise. According to Kant, this is...

morally wrong because the maxim "I will make a false promise in order to get a free lunch" cannot be conceived of in the world of the universalized maxim.

According to Kant, neglecting your talents because you prefer being lazy is

morally wrong because the maxim "I will neglect my talents because I prefer being lazy!" cannot be rationally willed in the world of the universalized maxim

Virtue Ethics

Develop a virtuous character by doing what a virtuous person would do

Hursthouse

Every virtue generates a positive instruction and every vice generates a prohibition

According to Hursthouse, the virtuous person lies or breaks promises

in some circumstances, but with regret

Phronesis

moral or practical wisdom had by the truly virtuous (a virtuous person knows what is important in life and has cultivated moral wisdom throughout their life)

Hursthouse claims that life experience is irrelevant to phronesis: all that's required are virtuous intentions

False

Utilitarianism

the right actions is one that produces the greatest sum of happiness

Rawls

Justice as Fairness; certain kinds of inequalities are unjust because they are unfair.

According to Rawls, inequalities in wealth and income are just:

only when necessary to incentivise the naturally talented to benefit the least advantaged

According to Rawls, inequalities in political rights and freedoms are just:

in NO circumstances; absolute equality is necessary to demonstrate equal respect