4F - The Implications of Libertarianism and Free Will

What are the two implications that the spec requires you to analyse?

⇨ The implications of libertarianism on moral responsibility
⇨ The implications of free will on religious belief

[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Outline the general response to the worth of human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value.

⇨ Implications for moral responsibility = primarily polar opposite of determinism
- ∴ an agent's moral life = free from determining factors

⇨ Only conclusion = that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value = meaningful

[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Give supporting evidence from Jean-Paul Sartre to the notion that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value are meaningful.

⇨ Condemned to freedom

⇨ "man must rely upon his own fallible will and moral insight. He cannot escape choosing"

⇨ "man is not free not to be free"

⇨ Moral value = result of a human being's 'willed' moral choice

[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Give supporting evidence from Sirigu and Jirtle to the notion that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value are meaningful.

⇨ The further science examines evidence, the more it points towards humans having free will (e.g. through epigenetic switches)

[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Give supporting evidence from Pelagius to the notion that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value are meaningful.

⇨ "our most excellent creator wished us to be able to do either good or bad"
⇨ "this very capacity to do evil is also good [...] Because it makes the good part better by making it voluntary

[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] Give supporting evidence from Arminius to the notion that human ideas of rightness, wrongness, and moral value are meaningful.

⇨ "God has limited his control in correspondence with man's freedom"

⇨ Holy Spirit does not force its 'will' onto humans ∵ the vital part of the process us that a human being makes a free-willed choice to decide not to rebel

⇨ However, some may view Arminius' argument as watering down the worth of human ideas of rightness/wrongness ∵ Holy Spirit acts as a moral guide; the ideas do not come from the agent's own 'will'

[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] What is the value in blaming human beings for immoral acts?

⇨ Morally fair to punish people ∵ the choice of whether to be moral = within an agent's own 'willed' moral control

⇨ Sartre: total free will = total responsibility - curse
- Even those who did not wish to take responsibility are still making a free choice

[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] In the UK legal system, there is a framework called 'rational choice theory'.
What is this?

⇨ The belief that humans are reasoning actors who freely weigh up costs/benefits and ∴ make freely willed rational choices when committing illegal acts
- 2011 riots, 1566 people punished - "deliberately participate"

[Libertarianism, Moral responsibility] What is the usefulness of normative ethics?

⇨ Libertarianism upholds use of normative ethics ∵ act as a moral guide, helping a person to use their free will to manoeuvre down path of morality
- without a normative ethic to guide, people may become amoral

⇨ Divine Command Theory
- God's commands act as a moral guide
- Concede that the use of human free-willed reason = reduced ∵ people do not need to use their own reason to rationalise morality - it is provided for them

⇨ Act utilitarianism
- Bentham: pre-supposing with principle of utility that humans have the free will to select the course of action that maximises happiness
- ∴ has free will to make a choice

[Free will, Religious belief] How is God shown not to be omnipotent?

⇨ According to Augustine, Pelagius' theories made it possible for a human to freely decide whether to be morally good or sinful
- ∴ a human = able to tell an omnipotent deity whether to give them salvation
- Augustine argued that this = an intolerable denial of God's omnipotence + an insult to his divine majesty
- Supported by Jonathan Edwards: concept of free will = incompatible with individual dependence on an omnipotent God ∵ if a human could choose, it diminishes God's omnipotence

⇨ Sartre: free will illustrates "There is no God"

[Free will, Religious belief] How is God shown to be omnibenevolent?

⇨ Supports omnibenevolence ∵ possible for all to achieve salvation by freely following God's laws

⇨ Pelagius: when Adam + Eve ate forbidden fruit, God did not punish all humans
- Would not punish all ∵ it was through no direct fault of their own - it was Adam + Eve's sin alone

⇨ Predestination makes humans pre-programmed robots

[Free will, Religious belief] What is the use of prayer?

⇨ Free will supports the meaningfulness of prayer ∵ it = used to build a rapport with God

⇨ Can seek forgiveness or guidance - consistent with free will

⇨ Pelagius: a human ≠ able to fulfil God's eternal moral law without divine aid
- "free will is [...] always assisted by divine help"
- This divine aid to guide to guide humans can be enhanced with prayer ∵ a human opens themselves up to the guiding light of the divine
- Forgiveness from free-willed decisions can be granted through prayer

[Free will, Religious belief] What are the implications for the existence of miracles?

⇨ If God has granted free will, it raises questions about his intervention through miracles

⇨ In both types of Aquinas' miracles (primary and secondary), God influences the outcome

⇨ E.g. Joshua 10:13 - God made the sun/moon stand still so that Joshua could defeat the enemies of Israel
- Determining the outcome of a major event with a miracle
- Overrides free will decisions of those involved

⇨ ∴ free will ≠ compatible with miracles

[Free will, Religious belief] What is the link between God and evil?

⇨ It defends God against the accusation that he + "the author of all sin"
- Pelagius: "this very capacity to do evil is also good [...] Because it makes the good part better by making it voluntary and independent"

⇨ However, perhaps God = responsible for all evil ∵ all sin manifested by an imperfect moral agent = ultimately the responsibility of its creator
- If omniscient, would have known about evil

[Free will, Religious belief] How does the Irenaean theodicy support the view that God is not "the author of all sin"?

⇨ God created humans imperfect, enabling them to actualise the qualities of God's perfection e.g. a sense of morality

⇨ To actualise these qualities of God's perfection, humans must make free, moral decisions - good works develop the agent into God's likeness

⇨ Analogy: God = craftsman working with humans as his material - suggests that humans should freely allow themselves to be moulded into God's likeness

⇨ Humans used their free will to disobey God, causing moral evil to develop, but this is not God's responsibility

⇨ Moral evil = necessary part of life - without it, decisions would have no value

⇨ "second-order goods" e.g. courage/perseverance could never be developed if there were not challenges in life that tested such goods
- ∴ if God intervened, it would compromise human freedom + prevent humans having the potential to develop into God's likeness

[Free will, Religious belief] How does Hick support the view that God is not "the author of all sin"?

⇨ God has to also allow natural evil

⇨ The natural world could not be a paradise ∵ would be no chance of causing harm ∴ humans would not be truly free to choose
- It would be too easy to be like God in paradise
- "Our world is not designed to maximise human pleasure but for the purpose of soul-making"

[Free will, Religious belief] How is God shown to be omnipotent?

⇨ Could be argued that God shows his omnipotent nature in other ways. E.g.:
- Arminius: Placing Holy Spirit as a guide within humans encourages good works; only an omnipotent God could do this

[Free will, Religious belief] How is God shown not to be omnibenevolent?

⇨ If omniscient, would have known we would do evil with our God-given free will (e.g. Holocaust) but he gave it to us anyway