Dialogue Education

Update 3

Have I got any choice?

Free Will versus Determinism

THIS CD HAS BEEN PRODUCED FOR TEACHERS TO USE IN THE CLASSROOM. IT IS A CONDITION OF THE USE OF
1 THIS
CD THAT IT BE USED ONLY BY THE PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS THAT HAVE PURCHASED THE CD ROM FROM DIALOGUE
EDUCATION. (THIS DOES NOT PROHIBIT ITS USE ON A SCHOOL’S INTRANET)
•
Contents
Page 3 - Video Presentation outlining the Free Will/Determinism debate
• Pages 4 to 5 - Free Will
• Page 6 - Fundamental questions in the debate
• Page 8 - Determinism
• Page 9 - Libertarianism
• Pages 10 to 11 - Compatibilism
• Page 12 - Incompatibilism
• Page 13 - Overview map
• Pages14 to 16 - Moral Responsibility
• Pages 17 to 21 - Science and the Free Will debate
• Pages 23 to 24 - Eastern Philosophy
• Page 25 - Jewish Philosophy
• Page 26 - Islamic Philosophy
• Pages 27 to 28 - Christian philosophy
• Page 30 - Community of Inquiry Stimulus Material
• Page 31 - Bibliography

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 You Tube Presentation on
Free Will / Determinism debate
• Click on the
image to the
left. You will
need to be
connected to
the internet to
view this
presentation.
• Enlarge to full
screen
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Free Will versus Determinism

The question of free will is

whether, and in what sense,
rational agents exercise control
over their actions and
decisions.

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 Free Will versus Determinism

• The principle of free

will has religious,
ethical, and scientific
implications.
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 Free Will vs Determinism
The basic philosophical positions
on the problem of free will can be
divided in accordance with the
answers they provide to two
questions:
1.Is determinism true?
2.Does free will exist?
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Determinism

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 Determinism

Determinism is a broad term

with a variety of meanings.
Corresponding to
each of these different
meanings, there arises a
different problem of free will.
.
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 Libertarianism

 Libertarianism is the view

that humans have free will ,
and that we have the
freedom to choose what we
want, and that our choices
are not pre-determined.
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 Compatibilism
Compatibilists
maintain that
determinism is
compatible with
free will.
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 Compatibilism
William James' views were
ambivalent. While he believed
in free will on "ethical grounds,"
he did not believe that there
was evidence for it on scientific
grounds, nor did his own
introspections support it.
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 Incompatibilism

"Hard determinists", such

as d'Holbach, are those
incompatibilists who
accept determinism and
reject free will.
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A Diagram showing the Different stances in relation to
Determinism and Free will

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 Moral responsibility

• Society generally holds

people responsible for their
actions, and will say that
they deserve praise or
blame for what they do.
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 Moral responsibility

Jean-Paul Sartre argues that

people sometimes avoid
incrimination and
responsibility by hiding behind
determinism: " 15
 Moral responsibility

• Compatibilists argue, on the

contrary, that determinism is a
prerequisite for moral
responsibility. Society cannot
hold someone responsible
unless his actions were
determined by something. •16
 Science…
The most extreme determinists
are mostly scientists, such as
Richard Dawkins. One
argument against determinism
focuses on science and free
will in relation to it.
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 Physics
• Early scientific thought often
portrayed the universe as
deterministic, and some thinkers
claimed that the simple process of
gathering sufficient information
would allow them to predict future
events with perfect accuracy.

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 Genetics
Like physicists, biologists have
frequently addressed questions
related to free will. One of the
most heated debates in biology is
that of "nature versus nurture",
concerning the relative
importance of genetics and
biology as compared to culture
and environment in human
behaviour.
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 Neuroscience

• It has become possible to

study the living brain, and
researchers can now watch
the brain's decision-making
"machinery" at work.
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 Experimental psychology

Experimental psychology’s
contributions to the free will debate
have come primarily through social
psychologist Daniel Wegner's work on
conscious will. In his book, The Illusion
of Conscious Will Wegner summarizes
empirical evidence supporting the view
that human perception of conscious
control is an illusion.
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 In Eastern
philosophy
In Hindu philosophy
• The six orthodox (astika) schools of
thought in Hindu philosophy do not
agree with each other entirely on the
question of free will. For the Samkhya,
for instance, matter is without any
freedom, and soul lacks any ability to
control the unfolding of matter.
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 In Eastern philosophy
In Buddhist philosophy
Buddhism accepts both freedom and
determinism (or something similar to
it), but rejects the idea of an agent, and
thus the idea that freedom is a free will
belonging to an agent.

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 In Jewish Philosophy
• Jewish philosophy
stresses that free will is
a product of the
intrinsic human soul.

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 In Islamic Philosophy
• Free will, according to Shia Islamic
doctrine is the main factor for man's
accountability in his/her actions
throughout life. All actions taken by
man's free will are said to be counted
on the Day of Judgement because
they are his/her own and not God's.

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 In Christian
Philosophy

• The theological doctrine of

divine foreknowledge is
often alleged to be in
conflict with free will,
particularly in Reformed
circles. 27
 In Christian Philosophy

• The philosopher Søren

Kierkegaard claimed that
divine omnipotence cannot
be separated from divine
goodness.

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Is there any freedom for an actor
on a stage in time and space?

Does existence as
physical entities in time
and space allow any
genuine choices?

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A community of Inquiry on Free
Will vs Determinism
• CLICK ON THIS
LINK FOR THE
STIMULUS FOR A
DISCUSSION ON
THE PROBLEM OF
FREE WILL (You
might like to print this
material out and
distribute it to the
class.)
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 Bibliography
• Bischof, Michael H. (2004). Kann ein Konzept der Willensfreiheit auf das Prinzip der alternativen Möglichkeiten
verzichten? Harry G. Frankfurts Kritik am Prinzip der alternativen Möglichkeiten (PAP). In: Zeitschrift für
philosophische Forschung (ZphF), Heft 4.
• Dennett, Daniel . (2003). Freedom Evolves New York: Viking Press ISBN 0-670-03186-0
• Epstein J.M. (1999). Agent Based Models and Generative Social Science. Complexity, IV (5).
• Gazzaniga, M. & Steven, M.S. (2004) Free Will in the 21st Century: A Discussion of Neuroscience and Law, in
Garland, B. (ed.) Neuroscience and the Law: Brain, Mind and the Scales of Justice, New York: Dana Press,
ISBN 1932594043, pp51–70.
• Goodenough, O.R. (2004) Responsibility and punishment, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society:
Biological Sciences (Special Issue: Law and the Brain), 359, 1805–1809.
• Hofstadter, Douglas. (2007) I Am A Strange Loop. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0465030781
• Kane, Robert (1998). The Significance of Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-512656-4
• Lawhead, William F. (2005). The Philosophical Journey: An Interactive Approach. McGraw-Hill
Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages ISBN 0-07-296355-7.
• Libet, Benjamin; Anthony Freeman; and Keith Sutherland, eds. (1999). The Volitional Brain: Towards a
Neuroscience of Free Will. Exeter, UK: Imprint Academic. Collected essays by scientists and philosophers.
• Morris, Tom Philosophy for Dummies. IDG Books ISBN 0-7645-5153-1.
• Muhm, Myriam (2004). Abolito il libero arbitrio - Colloquio con Wolf Singer. L'Espresso 19.08.2004
http://www.larchivio.org/xoom/myriam-singer.htm
• Nowak A., Vallacher R.R., Tesser A., Borkowski W. (2000). Society of Self: The emergence of collective
properties in self-structure. Psychological Review. 107
• Schopenhauer Arthur (1839). On the Freedom of the Will., Oxford: Basil Blackwell ISBN 0-631-14552-4.
• Van Inwagen, Peter (1986). An Essay on Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-824924-1.
• Velmans, Max (2003) How Could Conscious Experiences Affect Brains? Exeter: Imprint Academic ISBN
0907845-39-8.
• Wegner, D. (2002). The Illusion of Conscious Will. Cambridge: Bradford Books
• Williams, Clifford (1980). Free Will and Determinism: A Dialogue. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co.
• Wikipedia- Free Will- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will
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