Free will and determinism

Libertarianism: the theory that according to which human beings are free agents. Although the material world around us is determined by the laws of nature, human choices are subjected to these laws. Libertarians recognise that there are certain limitations due to the laws of nature like gravity as well as their upbringings. However, they still maintain to the idea that free is always exercised. 

Key philosophers: 

• Rene Descartes: He believed that the mind (reference to substance dualism) is not confined to the rules of the physical world and is where we can exercise free will. Though his stance on free will has been debated over as his statements were brief and not in-depth enough to figure out what exactly he meant

• William James: Believed that determinism is a contradictory to our moral values 

• Robert Kane, Modern day philosopher who supports libertarianism. 

Criticisms 

• Free will and determinism: The compatibility with determinism Is likely one of the major criticisms of libertarianism, if determinism is true that means all human actions are all predetermined and there's no room for genuine free will 

• Another factor that challenges libertarianism is the Social Contract Theory, every individual has responsibilities and obligations towards each other and as a collective society if libertarianism is truly the only theory then the societal rules and institutions will be deemed unnecessary 

• Many argue that libertarianism is too simple of a theory although people may have the free will to make their own decisions this neglects the factor of the importance of how society, history and culture shape the person resulting in them generally systematically making a “predictable” decision. 

Strengths

Determinism: The idea that everything has a cause of a set of causes, what happened had to happen instead. This can refer to natural events and the laws of nature ut also towards. Determinists believe that our choices do not really come from our free will, but from a series of causes that made them inevitable and theoretically predictable. 

Types of Determinism

• Scientific determinism 

  • It is the perspective that defines the results of science and scientific behaviour, saying that all events in the universe are ultimately determined by causal laws of nature. 

  • The philosopher who first influenced this idea was Pierre-Simon Laplace, who proposed a hypothetical “demon” that could predict the future state of the universe with perfect accuracy if they knew the precise positions and velocities of all the molecules in the universe. 

  • After Issac Newton’s discovery of calculus and the laws of classical mechanics, it made the assumptions of nature much more predictable. For example the conservation of energy and the unchanging speed of time. Viewing that the universe is entirely mechanistic. 

  • Criticisms: 

    •  Freewill: (not gonna go detailed) Basically if all human actions could be calculated it raises the question of whether we humans have genuine freedom 

    • Quantum mechanics: The theory that describes the behaviour of particles at the microscopic level. According to its principles, certain events can occur randomly and cannot be predicted with certainty.

    • Epistemological Limitations: Our understanding of causations are only based on our current scientific knowledge. Which are not perfect and are subject to be refined. However as they advance, it is possible to find new discoveries that may challenge our theory towards scientific determinism. 

• Psychological Determinism: 

  • The belief that all human thoughts, feelings and behaviours are ultimately determined by various factors such as genetics, past experiences and environmental influence. This presents the idea that we may have a causal chain of events that leads to every aspect of our psychological life. 

  • Sigmund Freud: the theory of the unconscious mind

    • The mind is composed of three major components: the conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious in which the unconscious mind particularly plays a large role in shaping human behaviour

    • One example is the unconscious process where an area of mental processes are way beyond the control of the conscious mind, for example, phobias. Freudian slips as Freud propses are the “slips of the tongue” we get when unconscious desires and contents slip into conscious expression. 

    • But these unconscious desires could end up influencing the behaviour as effectively as external forces, like addictions, for example, gambling. 

  • B. F. Skinner: theory of behaviourism 

    • The theory of behaviourism also known as operant conditioning emphasises the role of the environment in shaping and controlling behaviour 

    • Behaviour is determined by the consequences that follow it. If behaviour is followed by a positive consequence (reinforcement), it is more likely to be repeated in the future. On the contrary, if the behaviour is followed by a negative consequence (punishment) then it is less likely to be repeated. 

      • Reinforcement: there are two types of reinforcement, positive reinforcement and negative. Positive reinforcement involves providing a desirable stimulus and negative removes an undesirable stimulus 

      • Punishment: the application of an unpleasant stimulus or the removal of a desirable stimulus 

2b. Psychological Determinism - Operant Conditioning of B. F. Skinner - Behaviourism

Skinner used positive and negative reinforcers. He rewarded his laboratory animals when they produced a specific behaviour which he wanted, assuming that the reward would strengthen the behaviour pattern. He would give the animal something unpleasant (an electric shock) for a behaviour pattern he wished to eliminate. He found that rats, mice and pigeons could be conditioned to perform specific and complex patterns of behaviour. Skinner believed that humans were different from laboratory animals in degree only and not in kind. He stated every single human action could be and in fact was the product of conditioning.

This included a person’s moral code. Skinner believed that the environment determines behaviour. According to his view, people have consistent behaviour patterns because they have particular kinds of response tendencies. This means that over time, people learn to behave in particular ways. Behaviours that have positive consequences tend to increase, while behaviours that have negative consequences tend to decrease.  Skinner didn’t think that childhood played an especially important role in shaping personality. Instead, he thought that personality develops over the whole life span. People’s responses change as they encounter new situations.

Hard determinism: The theory that every human action and choice the inevitable result of a set of causes, which eliminates the possibility of human freedom. Most determinists are materialistic as their beliefs that human beings are material beings subjected to the laws of the material world. 

Key philosophers: 

• Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher in the 17th century presented a deterministic view in one of his works “Leviathan”. He believed that the human behaviour was determined by natural laws and that freedom is simply the absence of external constraints. Hobbes argued that individuals act according to their desires and aversions which are determined by their nature and the circumstances they encounter. 

• Friedrich Nietzche: a 19th-century philosopher who argued the notion of complete human agency and challenged many factors beyond individual’s control can shape their actions and values. 

Criticisms of hard determinism

1. Incompatibility with human experience: Despite these philosophical arguments, generally have a sense of making choices and decisions to hspa either live within themselves. Hard determinism will contradict this part of human experience. 

2. Lack of moral responsibility: the absence of free will raises the question about the notions of praise, blame, punishment, and personal accountability as this means that humans are not morally accountable fo their behaviour. 

3. Scientific challenges: hard determinism faces challenges of scientific disciplines like quantum physics, chaos theory and emergent properties. These concepts are strong evidence towards indeterminism which is the unpredictability of the natural world which could have implications to determinism. 

Soft determinism: The theory that according to which there are many external factors influencing our decisions b ut there's an element of freedom still exists. Soft determinists tend to agree that all events are the inevitable results of some sets of causes. However they also point out that some of those causes are internal causes, causes that we have some control over