Free Will

Harold Rivera-Vargas

In the debate between libertarianism and hard determinism, libertarians claim that not all of our actions are pre-programmed. Some of those action happen due to spontaneous free will, while the other are the result of external forces. Determinist claim that we do not have free will, and that all of our actions are pre-programmed. Another group, compatibilist, claim that we have free will but they do so by giving free will a new definition so that when applied moral responsibility is present. They define free will as something that it’s caused by ones beliefs and desires.

I support soft determinism (compatibilism) because if humans didn’t have a form of free will we could be machines. We would only have those things that are already programmed into us. Soft determinism includes moral responsibility which is another thing that, in my opinion, is necessary in our society. If we didn’t have it, there wouldn't be any need of trials, since we wouldn't be responsible for our actions. The world would be total chaos.

Soft determinism has more explanatory breadth than the other two since it covers more things. Libertarianism claims that free will is spontaneous, in a way it could be say that it believes that the other actions are programmed into a person.

Soft determinism has a more explanatory depth than the other two because it explains its concepts in a detailed way than libertarianism which says that some are pre-programmed and some are spontaneous acts and hard determinism just claims that all acts are pre-programmed. Soft determinism tells us that our actions are a result of our beliefs and desires which are pre-programmed ideas.

Both Libertarianism and Hard Determinism are simpler than soft determinism since they both make emphasis in just a topic. Hard determinism with pre-programmed actions and Libertarianism with spontaneous actions. Soft determinism is more complex than those two.

I believe that soft determinism would be more correct with our way of thinking nowadays but people that don’t know the differences or the other theories might just claim that we have free will, so because of that libertarianism is more conservative.

1.       Soft Determinism, Hard Determinism, and Libertarianism are the most plausible explanations of free will.

2.       Soft Determinism has much more explanatory breadth and explanatory depth, whereas Libertarianism and Hard Determinism has more simplicity than Soft Determinism.

3.       Therefore, Soft Determinism is the best explanation of free will.