Freedom and Determinism

1
Freedom and Determinism

• Libertarianism

2
LibertarianismNo-Cause View

• Motivations
• Definition
• A free act is an uncaused event
• We have metaphysical freedom. The principle of
  UC is false. There are uncaused free actions.
• The future is still open and people have moral
  responsibility.
• Key Points
• Realizing Freedom is a Matter of Degree
• Indeterminism and Science

3
Arguments for No-Cause View

• The Argument from Experience
• We should trust the prima facie evidence of our
  experience
• HD response there is still a motivating cause
  that compels
• NC Response sometimes we can choose to overrule
  our desires
• The Argument from Moral Responsibility
• If the hard determinist is correct, then our
  moral judgments and ethical struggles are absurd.
  
• But we have to make moral judgments.
• Therefore, the hard determinist is mistaken. We
  have metaphysical freedom as well as moral
  responsibility.

4
Famous Indeterminists

• Rene Descartes
• William James
• Charles Sanders Pierce
• Jean Paul Sartre

5
Critiques of Indeterminism

• UC is Common Sense
• The Dilemma of Determinism

6
LibertarianismAgency Theory

• a free act act caused by an agent
• It isnt
• an event with no cause (no-cause libertarianism)
• an event caused by an inner state (compatibilism)

7
Agency Theory and UC

• Every cause is not an event
• Two Types of Causation
• Event causation
• Agent causation
• Agent causation
• We make things happen, we cause things
• Some things happening now have short casual
  chains
• We initiate new casual chains for which we bear
  responsibility

8
Criticisms of Agency Theory

• What is the mechanism by which agents cause
  actions?