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Key Words other time Determinism The thesis that a complete description of the universe at one time and a complete statement of all the laws of nature together entail a complete description of the universe at every Constraint Something that bypasses a person s normal processes of deliberation and deciding Indeterminism The belief that determinism isn t true Agent Causation The person or agent herself causes free actions as opposed to anything the agent does or some event involving the agent or some state the agent is in Further nothing causes the agent to exercise this power In particular the agents reasons their character beliefs and desires do not cause her to exercise her agent causal power Principle of Alternate Possibilities the claim that a person is only morally responsible for what he has done if he could have done otherwise Psychological Egoism the thesis that everyone is motivated only by his own self interest Colloquially everyone is selfish or everyone is out for himself Utilitarianism All together an action A is right if and only if of all the actions open to the agent Imperatives An imperative is a command For example Close the door or Sit down A produces the greatest total amount of pleasure Eudaimonia Well being good living 1 Incompatibilism is the belief that Free Will and Determinism are incompatible Compatibilism is the opposite it states that Free Will and Determinism are compatible by means of Constraint The Consequence Argument for Incompatibilism a No one has a choice about what the laws of nature are b No one has a choice about what the distant past was c If determinism is true then the distant past and the laws together entail everything that everyone does If you have no choice about some fact F and F entails some other fact G then you have no choice about G either e Therefore if determinism is true then no one has a choice about anything they d do 2 The Luck Argument a b c If Indeterminism is true then when someone makes a choice there is an alternative scenario that is exactly the same except they choose something else If the scenarios are exactly the same except for the choice then nothing makes the difference between them the difference between them is just a matter of luck If the difference between the scenarios is just a matter of luck then the person has no choice about what happens d Therefore if Indeterminism is true no one has a choice about what happens The power to overcome the problem of Luck Agent Causation 3 Why we need reform Pereboom doesn t believe we have the power of Agent Causation thus we don t have free will If no one has free will then no one deserves anything No one deserves praise or blame reward or punishment How could we justify our practices then Without free will we lack the responsibility of our actions while our justice system practices solely based on our responsibility of our actions In Pereboom s mind the justice system bases its judgments on something that we as humans don t have free will Form of punishment to switch to Quarantine as in separate the criminals from the general population 4 The Ability to do Otherwise Conditional Analysis Consider the following 1 He could have done otherwise means the same things as 2 If he had chosen to do otherwise then he would have done otherwise The Standard Objection 1 and 2 are not equivalent because the person might not be able to choose to do otherwise Ayer s suggested addition Constraint Ayer suggests that rather contrast ordinary freedom with Determinism you must instead contrast it with Constraint 5 Principle of Alternate Possibilities Frankfurt s Argument Normally when we believe that someone could not have done otherwise it is because she has been coerced or compelled or otherwise forced to do something That is the circumstances that make it the case that she cannot do otherwise also make it the case that she does what she does However these two things can come apart That is circumstances could be such that 1 it s impossible for someone to do otherwise but 2 that fact in no way explains her action Some examples a Consider Jones Jones decides to do something He is then threatened in order to make him do the thing he has already decided to do and then he does it Is Jones responsible for what he does in this case b Unreasonable Jones Jones is the sort of person that does what he has decided to do no matter what happens He s indifferent to the threat that is made against him Result Responsible because he was not coerced Someone tried to coerce him but failed c Steamrolled Jones Jones is so gripped by fear at the threat that he forgets his decision and all the reasons he had for it and decides again to do the thing on the basis of the threat Result Not responsible because he only performed the action out of fear He may be responsible for initially choosing the action but not for performing it d Impressed Jones Jones is reasonably impressed with the threat and would have changed his mind had he not already decided to do the thing in question As it stands he does it on the basis of his earlier decision not on the basis of the threat Result This more difficult Perhaps he was not coerced since he did what he wanted to do because he wanted to do it or perhaps he was because he would have done it even if he didn t want to do it Either way it seems he is responsible because he did for his own reason and not because of the threat ETHICS 1 Psychological Egoism Argument for getting what we want When a person gets what he wants he gets pleasure or satisfaction from it This pleasure or satisfaction is what is really motivating him and he only does other things to get it So he is selfish because all he really wants is his own pleasure Feinberg s Argument Sometimes we don t get pleasure or satisfaction when we get what we want Consider the argument that because a ship always consumes fuel to travel that the point of the trip is to consume the fuel Basically pleasure is not the only goal of doing what we want 2 Utilitarianism a Hedonism pleasure is the only thing that is valuable b Consequentialism whether an action is right or wrong depends only on c Maximization the right action is the one that has the best consequences its consequences i e produces the most value d Intentions according to Utilitarianism Suppose you are walking down the street and you see a man loading a heavy bag into a truck Being the kind and generous human being you are you help the man load the bag into the truck You


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FSU PHI 2010 - Determinism

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