Free Will

Freedom
1. The idea that we are free to control our behaviour is essential if we are to use moral language
  1. As soon as we become free we become responsible
2. If we are not free, then criminals would still be prosecuted
  1. But they would not be held responsible
Determinism
1. The belief that our behaviour is determined by other factors outside of our control
  1. Free will is therefore an illusion
Behaviourism
1. The mind is irrelevant. Focus only on the beahviour
  1. Skinner, 20th century
    1. There is no meaning to life, free will is an excuse
  2. Purely determined by the enviornment
Reasons to Support Free Will and the Challenges
1. If there was no free will, then there would be no creativity or change in the thoughts of mankind. Free will is spported by the number of revoultions and uprisings.
  1. Authority does not necessarily mean the removal of free will. Uprisings may be predtermined.
2. If free will does not exist, why do we not all react the same way to the same stimuli? Doesn't free will therefore have to exist
  1. We do not know the complex chemistry of the brain, we just do not have that information at the moment. If a thing could know enough, it could make those predictions
    1. Pierre Simon de Laplace
      1. Clockwork Universe--> everything is determined by causal law
3. Through actions alone we prove that we are free, nothing governs our own actions but ourselves, as we are the only ones that know our own minds
  1. Large numbers of external factors affecting our decisions, you may think that you are free but your actions are pre-determined
    1. The feeling of freedom could mask determinism

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	Created by lilygriffey over 9 years ago