Thursday Nov. 21, 2002

Notes--

AGRUMENTS FOR DETERMINISM-
1. Argument from determinism in physics - Matter is determined (obeys deterministic laws of cause and effect.) Ex: We are material beings, therefore we are determined. (This is valid assuming Materialism is true.)

Objections -
a. Matter isn’t really determined. What happens, has to happen, but it can’t be determined. Can’t predict it, randomness. (Says modern physics) Something that happens at the atomic level.
b. Maybe we are not material beings, the soul is free. (Descartes)

2. Psychoanalytic Argument from the Unconscious - Unconscious desires determine our actions. Conscious deliberation is typically a rationalization about what the unconscious has already decided.

Evidence for the unconscious -
a. Napoleon complex: short man acts very aggressive to compensate for being short, “less of a man.” He is not aware of this, neurotic self defeating behavior, plus clinical and therapeutic case studies.

Unconscious is formed due to parental influences, when you are too young to make decisions (childhood or infancy.) On outside, it’s a façade of rationalization.

b. Hypnosis


ARGUMENTS FOR FREE WILL/LIBERTARIANISM (Do not confuse this with the government party, political freedom is different from philosophical freedom.)

1. Arguments from in-determinism in physics - Matter is not determined. Ex: We are material beings, therefore we are not determined, therefore we are free.

Student objected to this. Prof. Borrowdale said it was an example of Heisberg’s principal of Uncertainty, another ex - You can determine either the position or the velocity of an electron, but not both.

Copenhagen interpretation - Electron movement is somewhat random.

Idea that “Atoms are like clouds, not clocks.” - Popper (Clouds = unpredictable vs. clocks = predictable.)

2. Most powerful argument in favor - Argument for moral responsibility -
a. If there is no free will, there is no moral responsibility/morality. There is morality, therefore there is free will. ~OR~ Your must believe in BOTH moral responsibility and free will or neither.

3. Deliberation - If feels from the inside from a first person point of view that we could choose one thing or another. (Determinists say this “feeling” is an illusion.)

OBJECTIONS to Free will/Indeterminism/Libertarianism
1. Maybe our souls are determined.
2. Does micro-indeterminism imply macro-indeterminism? (micro = small sized objects, macro = ordinary sized objects.)
3. Does random = free?

There seems to be a spectrum on which Determinism is on one side (representing physics, social conditioning, genetic makeup), and indeterminism is on the other side (representing randomness) with “free will” falling someplace in the middle. Goal directed activity assumes a character (continuity.)

4. Just because you’re not determined doesn’t mean you have free will.
5. Moral responsibility and free will seem to go together. If determinism is true, no one “deserves” punishment for their actions.