Freewill and Determinism Part II

Who Are You?What type of person would people say you are? Jock, hippie, geek, ordinary, etc.

Why would people identify you as this type of person?

If I had to identify myself with a group or type of person, I’d identify with…

Sometimes I feel pressure to……

What Type of Person Drives….Psychological

ValuesBeliefsDesiresFears

Attitudes“Show Your Tits”

CircumstantialAgeSex

EducationEconomic

StatusEmployment

Jasmin

Predictions about who Jasmin became….

The Determinist Argument

Every event, without exception, is causally determined by prior events.

Human thoughts, choices, and actions are events.

Therefore, human thoughts, choices, and actions are, without exception, causally determined by prior events.

Sartre and Radical Existential Freedom• Essence precedes

existence vs. Existence precedes essence.

• What distinction does Sartre make between facticity and choice?

• Your war? Your slavery? Your holocaust?

Compatilibilism

Your actions are determined by our values, fears, desires, personality, beliefs, motives, and psychological states.

If you are free from external forces, you have the freedom necessary to be responsible for your actions.

You are responsible for your actions.

Belief, Freedom, and Choice

If you believe an option is available even if it is not, and you reject that option in favor of another option, is your experience of choice authentic and free?

Hard Determinist: You feel as though you have the power to choose freely, but your decisions and actions are determined, are compelled by specific causes, and you are not morally responsible for them.

Libertarian: You have the ability to choose, you generate you the cause of your decisions and actions, and you are morally responsible for your decisions and actions.

Compatibilist (soft determinist): You are determined, your decisions and actions are the products of who you are, and you are morally responsible for your decisions and actions as long as you have the circumstantial freedom to make the decision/take the action.

Some QuestionsHow would a determinist, a libertarian, and compatilibilist….

Treat criminality?

Approach education?

Provide counseling to those suffering from emotional challenges?

What are the implications of determinism and libertarianism for questions about moral responsibility?