Free Will Metaphysics- Philosophy

Free Will

The philosophical concept that individuals have the capacity to make choices and decisions independent of external influences or constraints. It posits that humans possess agency and autonomy in determining their actions, allowing them to act according to their own desires, intentions, and values. Proponents of free will argue that individuals are morally responsible for their choices and actions because they have the power to choose between alternative courses of action.

Determinism

The philosophical belief that all events, including human actions, are determined by prior causes and conditions. According to determinism, every event, including human behaviour, is the inevitable result of a chain of preceding causes, such as physical laws, genetics, environmental factors, and past events. In a deterministic worldview, human actions are ultimately governed by these external forces, leaving no room for genuine choice or free will.

Moral luck

The idea that factors beyond our control can affect how morally blameworthy or praiseworthy we are judged to be. This creates a tension:

-We usually believe people should only be judged for what they control.

-But in practice, outcomes matter — even when luck shaped them.

Resultant Luck

Luck in how things turn out. Example: Two people act the same way, but only one causes harm.

Circumstantial Luck

Luck in the situations we find ourselves in. Example: Some people face extreme moral tests; others never do.

Constitutive Luck

Luck in the kind of person you are (character, personality, temperament). Example: Being naturally patient, impulsive, kind, or angry.

Causal Luck

Luck in the chain of events that shaped you before you acted (upbringing, environment, past experiences).

Principle of alternate possibilities.

An agent can never have done anything other than what they did. (They can’t start a whole chain of causality that wasn’t caused by anything else. The inability to effect causal chain of the universe).

Event causation

No physical event can occur without having been caused by a previous physical event.

Reductionism

The view that all parts of the world, and of our own experience, can be traced back or reduced down to one singular thing.

Soft determinism/ compatibilism

A perspective that endeavours to harmonise the seemingly opposing notions of determinism and free will. At its core, soft determinism acknowledges the pervasive influence of determinism, positing that every event, including human actions, is causally determined by preceding factors. However, it diverges from the rigidity of hard determinism by asserting that this deterministic framework does not preclude the existence of genuine free will.

-Compatibility of Free Will and Determinism

-Concept of Voluntary Actions

-Moral Responsibility

Hard determinism

Is a philosophical stance, that considers the intricate fabric of existence, proposing that every event, from the grand cosmic symphony to the minutiae of human actions, unfolds according to predetermined causes and conditions. This viewpoint challenges the conventional notion of free will, suggesting that our choices and actions are not truly our own, but rather predetermined outcomes of a vast and interconnected web of causal relationships.

-Absence of Free Will

-Predetermined Universe

-Implications for Moral Responsibility:

The Hegelian dialectic

A method of development through contradiction and resolution. It describes how ideas progress by encountering opposition and being transformed into something new.

Structure of Hegelian dialectic

Basic structure:

1. Thesis – an initial idea or belief.

2. Antithesis – a conflicting idea that challenges the thesis.

3. Synthesis – a resolution that preserves parts of both but also transcends them, becoming a new, higher understanding.