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free will and moral responsibility - Coggle Diagram
free will and moral responsibility
BASICS
FREE WILL= the ability to have the choice act freely
to be morally responsible = act through their own free will
to have free will, must be conscious and capable (human) -> machines have no individual thought therefore aren't morally responsible
ARISTOTLE= virtue us a voluntary feeling and action where praise/blame is given
to have morally responsibility we need a moral agent -> observer to take into account all circumstances of a person eg upbringing, psychological wellbeing = suggest they have no control over actions
EXAMPLE: person has a fatal heart ataack while driving and causes accident killing someone
1- knew about heart = not MR as she didn't know it would occur then and there = she still has to live
2- doc said no driving= MR as medically advised by a professional to not drive
knowing degree of MR problematic as humans are humans = real life include factors which make it hard to determine the degree of freedom and awareness involved
UNDERSTANDING RIGHT AND WRONG
THOS WHO DO NOT MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS
bubs, young kids those with disabilities
those with dementia and other serious mental issues
those under extreme pressure = don't think straight = make actions they wouldn't do on reflection e.g moment of anger
TO BE ABLE TO DO THIS
a person must have lived long enough to gain some moral direction and have no psychological issues
in terms of knowledge of good, four exceptions
those who cannot understand
those who have permanently forgotten
those who've temporaliy forgotten
those who have not yet learned
SOURCES OF A PERSONS MORAL AWARENESS IN TELLING RIGHT FROM WRONG
LEARN ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG THROUGH OUR SOCIAL CONTEXT = moral principles learned from parents and others in society (often backed up by law) form basis of social life
-this is the issue with multiculturalism as some actions are seen as wrong in some cultures but right in others
= should moral principles within one culture be accepted globally?
right and wrong is culturally conditioned therefore it varies
RELIGIOUS MORALITY= each religion presents its followers fundamental moral principles and rules that define way of life
-some religions use social paractices to emody the principles and own culuture
-others present moral principles that are adaptable to a variety of cultures
INNATE MORAL SENSE= basis of David Hume's approach to morality which is that we all have 'built in moral sense' - a 'faculty if sympathy'
LIBERTARIANISM
view all forms of determinisms are false in issues of right and wrong we act as free moral agents
liberists= dualists
follows Descartes view that mind and body are separate = can act freely in physical world
some liberalists claim causality has nothing to do with free will -> human moral freedom is non-casual
cause and effect + free will run together
HOWEVER some extreme views of liberalisrism claim causality and free will are ontologically distinct
a modern libertarian would:
accept such influences incline us to act in certain ways rather than others
deny that the external world is deterministic e.g throw chair = cause pain
accept personality is to a large extent governed by social situation, hereditary and environment
accept determinist processes affect living beings
not totally free
eg can't run a mile in two mins
= physical, psychological, material resources, lawful limitations
DETERMINISM
HARD DETERMINISM= because determinism Is real no one has free will
freedom = illusion = not logically justified in claiming responsibility for our actions
THREE TYPES OF HARD DETERMISIM
THEOLGOICAL
All events are preordained by a divine being (GOD)
CALVIN= God = omniscient = already ordained who will go to her or heaven = doesn't avoid the inevitable
FW= illusion -> all events are determined by God's omniscience
if God knows you will do 'x' in the future then you cannot avoid doing 'x'
issues with God's relationship with time
god = timeless = transcendent = sees all = why not stop evil BUT omsienet = knows when events occur yet doesn't stop = not wrong to nt intervene
God = temporal (exist within time and space) = doesn't know future = cannot interupt free will
'man chooses not of necessity but freely' summa theologica
PSYCHOLOGICAL
all human actions are conditioned by the good or bad consequences of previous designs = no freedom of free will
pavlov's dogs = classical conditioning = acquire
all behaviour is the result of genetic and environmental conditions
skinners box= operant conditioning = consequences
strengths
recognised some actions cannot be controlled e.g genetics
Skinner derived Pavlovs dogs (classical conditioning) = scietneiftic value
-conclduded all behaviour was down to unique experience
-subconcious repetition = taught behaviour
reinforces idea that god has decided our path = predestination
'everything is planned, connected, limited' VOLTAIRE
SCIENTIFIC
all events are determined by antecedent events = no free will
PIERRE SIMON LAPLACE -> lap laces demon = chain of causality that spreads from any physical event
-everything arises due to other things = no gaps in chain of casuality
-world= seamless interlocking whole = no space for free will
COSMIC BACKGROUND RADIATION (CMB)= oldest light in universe take 13+ billion years ago for light to reach our sola system = time appears to be bivalent = complete cause and effect since big bang to present time
-omnipotent and omniscient mind would be aware of every stage = God
can we avoid scientific determinism
if inderminancy is located in quatum states of mind
if laws of nature are probabilistic or if it turns on the quantum world is indetermiate
= we simply won't know
view that all events and states of affairs are neccessary consequence of antecedent (previous) actions
identified with CASUAL DETERMINISM= laws of cause and effect of physics can be seen as a chain of antecedent causes going back to the Big Bang
COMPATIBILISM
view that human freedom and MR are compatible with determinism
=soft determinism
can be shaped by physical and other laws but also allows to make free moral choices
two distinct types of causation
EXTERNAL = compulsions = factors beyond our control that determine what we do
INTERNAL = free will = our personality or temperent
incompatibilism= view liberalism and determisms are not compatble
deterministic universe = no room for free will