PHIL282 Midterm Study Guide Surface freedoms vs freedom of will o Surface freedom whether or not I am capable do something physical abilities able to do purchase Ex Molly wants fries take away all fries her transportation ability to o Freedom of will choosing desiring to do ability to choose or decide Ex Molly wants fries suggest something else make the fries undesirable Fatalism vs determinism o Fatalism fixed outcomes no matter what we decide to do in at least some cases whatever is going to happen is going to occur no matter what we do o Determinism an event is determine when there are conditions obtaining earlier fate God antecedent causes laws of nature whose occurrence is a sufficient condition for the occurrence of the event Must be the case that if these earlier determining conditions happen Garden of Forking Paths determined event will occur o In order to make a choice an agent has to assume that other alternative forking o If determinism is true the agent really only has one path the path taken 1 To have the power or ability to do what we want or desire to do which in turn entails 2 An absence of constraints or impediments to actions o Objections discuss that view only accounts for freedom of action not freedom of paths exist Classical compatibilism o To be free is will Indeterminism o Denial of determinism o Means different possible futures given the same past Constraints or impediments o Physical restraint coercion lack of opportunity compulsion o Act against our wills preventing us from doing or choosing what we want Hypothetical analysis o Could have chosen otherwise o Compatible with determinism o Being free to do otherwise than you actually do means You would have done otherwise if you chose to You would have chosen otherwise if you wanted to Mechanism vs determinism o Common misconception that if determinism were true we would all be robots running mechanically or amoebae responding automatically o Humans have an inner conscious and reason o Denial that we have consciousness is how we build mechanism into determinism very different concepts Mill s lazy sophism o Fatalist argument sophism bad argument fallacy of reason o Reaction to possible truth of determinism might as well be lazy no matter what if determinism is true o Belief that determinism is compatible with freedom shouldn t make you a fatalist belief should convince that life is to some extent in own hands deliberations Van Inwagen s Consequence Argument o Against compatibilisn meant to show that determinism rules out free will o Argument states that We can t now change the past We can t change the laws of nature If determinism is true our present acts are the necessary consequences of the past and the laws of nature If determinism is true we can t change the fact that 3 occurs If determinism is true we can t now change our present acts as free will requires o Can t have free will o Can t change past or laws of nature infers that if determinism is true it would follow that we can t change our present acts either Transfer of Powerlessness principle o Challenges compatibilism in the Consequence Argument o If no one can change X or the fact that Y is a necessary consequence of X then o We wouldn t change the past or the laws of nature even if we now chose wanted no one can change Y to Based on this interpretation 1 4 would be true but 5 would be false Incompatibilist Mountain whole argument invalid o Either you can t get up to incompatibilism or you can t get down to indeterminist free will o Getting down is harder than getting up o Top of mountain Kane means that it leads people to invent strange entitles traditional libertarianism or to contemplate a life without free will Libertarianism o Incompatibilism determinism indeterminism o Free actions must be undetermined Seems as if they would happen by chance o Depend on introducing a further factor outside the world of science as an indeterministic cause or type of causation Libertarian Dilemma o If free will is not compatible with determinism it doesn t seem to be compatible with indeterminism either o Incompatibilism free will is indeterminism o Since undetermined acts would occur without sort of control by agent required for free will and moral responsibility seems that one or the other or both are true Free will is compatible with determinism compatibilism Free will is incompatible with determinism o Constitutes a dilemma choice between unacceptable alternatives The Descent Problem o Explaining how indeterminist free will makes sense o Involves showing how one can make sense of a free will that requires indeterminism o Not up to agents whether or not undetermined events occur but if events aren t under control of agent can t be free and responsible actions The Ascent Problem o Is free will incompatible with determinism o Getting to the top of Incompatibilist Mountain requires showing that free will is incompatible with determinism Soft vs hard determinism o Soft compatibilism determinism free will compatibilism essentially softens the impact of determinism on free will o Hard combination of incompatibilism and determinism because it has to deny free will and responsibility Mele s Luck Objection Extra factor strategies o Some cases pose problems particularly for moral responsibility o Two agents living exactly the same lives identical in different worlds up until a certain point One chooses to be late one is on time o Nothing about the agents powers capacities state of mind moral character etc that explains different outcome then the difference is just a matter of luck o Indeterminist condition the agent should be able to act and act otherwise choose different possible futures given the same past circumstances and laws of nature o Extra factor strategies introduces something other than a past event something that isn t subject to natural law not included among past circumstances or laws that must account for the difference in outcome o Libertarians traditionally have tried to accommodate the indeterminist condition by extra factor strategies Mind body dualism o Most obvious extra factor strategy to make sense of libertarian free will o If the mind soul were distinct from the body would be outside of the physical world and wouldn t be governed by laws of nature o If the mind soul could interact with the physical world by influencing the brain it would be the extra factor Noumenal self science and reason o Distinct from the phenomenal self not subject to