Baron
d’Holbach: Hard determinist;
what we call free will is simply a modification of the physical brain. We
necessarily seek to enhance/ensure our own existence. As natural beings, we are wholly subject to
laws of nature. In this sense, forces independent of us create desires/drives
in us that determine what we do.
John
Hospers: Soft determinist;
character is formed by forces beyond our control (genetic, environmental, etc.)
and our desires are formed as a product of that character. We could choose to act otherwise if our
desires were different, if we had the ability to overcome those external
forces, but that ability itself (strong will) is itself formed by external
forces. Some of us do have this ability,
so it would seem that having the ability to use self-control, be moral, strong
will, is simply a matter of luck. There
are two levels of moral discourse: actions and the springs of actions. Terms like ‘responsible’ only apply to the
first level (actions) and not the springs of action. We cannot be held responsible for our springs
of action, because they are out of our control.
William
James: Indeterminist; there
is always some ‘loose play’ among parts of the universe, multiple possibilities
for how things can be. Whatever does
actually happen, happens because of chance, not out of necessity or natural
laws. There are two types of posulates of rationality: either everything is
determined, or everything is up to chance.
The pessimistic determinist is comfortable with the former, but the
optimistic indeterminist is comfortable with, and finds more intelligible, the
latter.
Richard
Taylor: Self determinism,
theory of agency, free will: free acts must be those caused by the agent
themself as a ‘whole being’. This might
seem like an odd exception when most of the events of the natural world seem to
follow predictable, natural laws, but it fits how we understand our normal
day-to-day experience. Argument against
soft determinism: even internally caused actions must have prior causes too, of
the sort that are determined, so soft determinism really just collapses into
hard determinism (all acts are determined).
Argument against indeterminism: acts from chance would be totally random
and out of anyone or anything’s control.
W.
T. Stace: Soft
determinism, for us to have free will things don’t have to be completely
indeterminate. In ordinary conversation
we commonly talk of some acts being free and some acts being unfree. Both acts have causes, just different: free
acts have internal psychological causes and unfree acts have external physical
causes. Free will does exist and is
compatible with determinism, as well as moral responsibility.
Nancy
Holmstrom: Soft determinism; with
added consideration on the sources of the causes of acts. An action is free only to the extent that the
agent has control over the beliefs and desires that cause the performance of
the action. Control need not be all or
nothing, it is often a matter of degree.
These degrees depend on the degree to which our desires and beliefs do
not act on us against our will, the degree of our awareness that the sources of
action are operating on us, and how and why the sources of action are operating
on us. Smoking/advertising.
Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan: Karma sets certain
limits but we are free within those limits.
The Hindu doctrine of karma, meaning ‘action’ or ‘deed’ says that all of
our actions create a force that determines our destiny. Moral actions in this life will affect our
status in the next life. Although karma
links us with our past, we have the creative power to shape ourselves. It also follows from this that we should have
more compassion for those who are less fortunate than us, since we all share
the same human frailties.
The
Pali Canon: The Buddha
teaches that there is no self: what we call the self is simply a combination of
bundles of five kinds of force or energy.
These are form (material shape), feelings, perceptions (sensations),
formations (acts of will), and consciousness.
Nothing in any of these bundles is permanent or a self. We cannot control these bundles. Internal and external experience are both
impermanent (object and base of consciousness), and so the resulting form of
consciousness is also impermanent, and therefore painful. When we eliminate ignorance, eliminates the
sequence of ignorance—craving—suffering.
Daniel
Dennett: The
self is simply the product of the ongoing narrative that we use to describe our
experience (stream of consciousness, train of thought). The self is an abstraction that we create as
we use language, tell stories about whom we are, and preserve ourselves.
Biology begins in self-preservation.
This has implications for artificial intelligence machines that can report
on their activities, and multiple personality disorder.
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