Free Will

1
Free Will Determinism

• To what degree do we have choice?
• Can we change situations.
• Implications for legal system.
• Is it possible to advocate free will and do
  scientific research?
• Deterministic position our actions are
  determined by external internal forces
  operating on them eg. Behaviour parents,
  Biological hormones.
• Free will position despite external internal
  forces, we can still choose our own behaviour.
• Consider
• Could your behaviour in a given situation have
  been different if you had willed it
• Free will believers say yes, determinists say
  not.

2
DETERMINISM

• A determinist argues that everything that
  happens has a cause. Then human behaviour is
  predictable and ? can be considered a science.
• A freewiller argues that there is no
  definite cause, so human behaviour is not
  predictable.
• Physics, chemistry etc. can give us accurate
  predictions from a deterministic position.
• If we cannot do this with ?, either
• i) It is a very different science.
• ii) It is not a science.

3
PHYSICAL SCIENCES DETERMINISM

• Certain arguments theories challenge
  determinism in physical sciences.
• 1) Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle
• You cannot measure position velocity of a
  subatomic particle at the same time.
• 2) Chaos Theory
• A flap of a butterflys wings could change the
  whole weather system.
• These chains of events dont lend themselves to
  prediction.

4
Behaviourist Freudian Approach

• More approaches in ? are deterministic than free
  will.
• Skinner - nearly all our behaviour is
  determined by environmental factors.
• Reward
• Behaviour Behaviour repeated
• So we can predict someones response if we know
  current stimulus situation and conditioning
  history.
• Bandura (neo behaviourist) adopted concept of
• RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM.
• Freud - strong believer in determinism. Even
  trivial phenomena, (Freudian slip) have causes
  within a persons motivation system.

5
Soft Determinism

• William James distinguished between highly
  constrained (appears involuntary) modestly
  constrained (appears voluntary) situations.
• If a child apologises for swearing
• Is it because they will be punished (highly
  constrained)
• OR
• They are upset at causing offence (modestly
  constrained)
• So soft determinism suggests that determinism is
  not all or nothing.

6
The Approaches Determinism

• 1) Biological
• Behaviour is determined by internal
  biological systems BUT
• we have self awareness a sense that we can
  control
• change our behaviour.
• PHYSIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
• 2) Behavioural
• All behaviour is learned and can be explained in
  terms of
• environmental factors.
• Skinner Freedom is an illusion.
• ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINISM

7
The Approaches Determinism

• 3) Psychoanalytic
• Adult behaviour is predetermined by
  childhood events.
• Not freely chosen. Freud also believed freedom
  is an illusion,
• because causes of behaviour are unconscious.
• BUT
• Psychoanalysis is based on the principle that
  people can change.
• So some free will is operating many of our
  actions are consciously done.
• PSYCHIC DETERMINISM
• 4) Cognitive
• Proposed that our cognitions are consciously
  controlled
• can be altered. So we have free will to choose
  alter our
• thought patterns (not what book says).
• FREE WILL

8
The Approaches Determinism

• 5) Evolutionary
• Characteristics are inherited and non-adaptive
• ones are selected out.
• So behaviour is subject to.
• GENETIC DETERMINISM
• 6) Humanistic
• Embraces free will. Rogers humans have an
  innate drive
• towards growth and self-actualisation.
  Encourages the idea
• of humans being responsible for their actions.
  If we exercise
• this free will, we achieve our potential.
• See Frankill.
• FREE WILL

9
The Approaches Determinism

• 7) Testability
• Problem with free will and determination is that
  we cannot test it but if behaviour is determined,
  then it ought to be predictable (Why?, Explain?).
• BUT
• We have limited knowledge of internal and
  external forces acting on
• behaviour, so we cannot predict behaviour, nor
  know whether we are
• governed by determination or have free will.
• FREE WILL
• Most of us have a sense of choice and
  responsibility.
• Rogers created client-centred therapy on the
  basis that a client
• has freewill. Not at mercy of outside forces.

10
The Approaches Determinism

• 8) Causality
• We need to know how free will causes behaviour.
  Determination is clear about the causes.
  Possibly
• behaviour in the animal world is determined
  because they
• do not think in the complex ways that humans
  do.

11
Conclusion

• This is a philosophical rather than a
  scientifical question therefore not
  scientifically testable.
• 2. There is more common ground between free will
  and determination than we realise. Scientists
  accept
• Heredity
• Past Experience
• Present Environment
• affect behaviour. Some are internal, some
  external and can be traced to causal reasons in
  the past.
• Maybe free will and determination are not
  incompatible. Determinists argue
• An individuals actions are caused by a physical
  sequence of events in the brain. Free will
  (conscious consideration) is part of that
  sequence. So human responsibility can also hold
  a place in determinism.