Free Will

Eric Kemmling

Philosophy 100-24n

11/2/14

Blog Post 3

What Causes Our Effects

The world appears to be mathematical, following patterns, geometry and various rules and laws. In addition to beliefs in gods, it seems life is almost mechanical or created. These ideas cause a well known argument in the debate that is better known as free will. An interesting concept, whether by choice of a god, or by natural reasons for many centuries now there is still argument over whether we have control over our lives or not. This debate is mainly run by two groups falling on the sides of libertarianism or hard determinism. Libertarianism is a mix of free will and external forces commanding our lives. This means that although we are influenced and sometimes forced by our surroundings, we still have choice in control in other situations. Hard determinism is different in respects to the idea that we have no choice and are at the mercy of our surroundings and external surroundings, Both pose interesting arguments but it seems libertarianism is much more developed and sensible.

Based on its ideology, libertarianism has an upper hand over hard determinism in terms of explanatory breadth. it makes sense that external factors would influence our actions and even force them at times. This can range from childhood upbringing to daily choices based on weather or unpredictable changes. The reason libertarianism goes farther is because not only does it factor in external forces like hard determinism, but it adds free will to the argument. This matches human nature being that we are constantly thinking on our own and seemingly making active choices by our brains decisions. Not to mention we usually are aware of the outcome that will most likely happen and choose to do knowing the consequences. The breadth of this argument reaches farther in terms of counting in more types of human nature, being that it covers nature based by external conflict and nature based from spontaneous choice.

In terms of explanatory depth, libertarianism also goes deeper. Hard determinism stops at external conflict governing our lives and in terms thinks that humans do not have moral responsibility over their actions.This would mean that all crimes and negative choices should not only be disregarded, but great actions should go unnoticed. This is farthest depth of the argument and also does not really coincide with the worlds views on this today. Libertarianism accepts that some actions are indeed not by choice, for example an accident to another person. It goes deeper by saying indeed some choices are by free will and therefore things like murder, and actions involving morals should be taken seriously. It is by these accounts it seems libertarianism poses a deeper argument.

In terms of simplicity, hard determinism does have a slight edge. being that it only regards outside conflict and blatantly states the idea of no free will and moral obligation, there is hardly any room for contradictions or errors. But I would argue that it is too simple as stated above with its lack of further argumentation into human behavior and choice. Libertarianism is indeed more complicated involving both external conflict and forced choice. But it seems that few errors can be found within the argument.

Lastly, on the basis of conservatism  libertarianism is very similar to current beliefs and ideas. Being responsible for one's action is a huge staple in the world today and the ideas of heroism and gratitude are widely spread. Few would agree with hard determinism on the basis of acquitting those who make negative choices. Nor would it it be popular to not congratulate those who do great things being that competition and success are encouraged. It is also a truth that many people feel better thinking they are in control of their lives, and by choice many want to believe they have free will and the ability to make change.

1. The ideas of  libertarianism and hard determinism provide very insightful and reasonable ideas into the debate on free will..
2. libertarianism  through the ideas of forced choice by external conflicts coinciding with spontaneous free will, has better explanatory depth and conservatism, whereas rationality just has more simplicity.
3. Therefore, libertarianism  is the best explanation of choice, fate and freewill in our lives.  

Blog Post 3

Emily Estanislau

blog post 3

11/2/14

                                       Libertarianism and Determinism

In the free will debate there are two sides, either the libertarians or the determinists. Libertarians believe that we are able to control and change our actions. We are in charge and responsible for our own actions. While determinists on the other hand believe that humans lack free will. They argue that human actions were only caused by other events that had happened psychologically or physically in the past.

I believe that libertarianism is more plausible than determinism because it can explain the choices that humans make. An example that shows free will from the reading is when Gandhi fasted for a week because he wanted India to get its independence. He was fully responsible for his decision to fast for India’s independence. Another example in the reading is the man stealing bread because he was hungry. This man was in charge and responsible for his own actions, he was never forced to steal the bread.

Libertarianism has more explanatory breadth because it is able to explain human actions better. Libertarianism is better at explaining because humans are responsible and are able to control our actions. Determinism on the other hand only explains our behavior by external forces.

Determinism has more explanatory depth than libertarianism because it focuses on different external forces that have happened in the past. Determinism can explain their behavior because they can blame it on society or other external causes. An example would be a person being afraid of dogs because of a traumatic experience that happened in their childhood. Another example would be a person stealing because they were forced. Determinism explains human behavior in greater detail.

Determinism is more simplistic because it has fewer parts in explaining human behavior than libertarianism. This is because with determinism there is only one cause for human behavior and that is caused by past events.

For conservatism it is both determinism and libertarianism. This is because it depends on their point of view and certain beliefs on things.

1.     Libertarianism and determinism are the most plausible explanation for the causes of human behavior

2.     Libertarianism has much more explanatory breadth, whereas determinism has more simplicity and explanatory depth.

3.     Therefore, libertarianism is the best explanation for human behavior.

Free Will Debate

Allison Simpkin

Phi 100

11/2/14

Free Will Debate

There are two ways a choice can be made, by force or by self-determined. Libertinism is when humans have full control over their actions and have the responsibility of accepting the consequences on their actions. The responsibility that comes along with this power can’t be controlled and it is fully on the individual. Hard Determinism is when external factors determine the actions that we take in result unlike Libertinism lack free will.  With Hard Determinism I states that humans are not responsible for our decision making. We can be put under a stressful decision, ie. A gun to our head and we make choices that may save our life, the choices may not be good in any way. In Hard Determinism our actions are pre-programed.

In my views Hard Determinism is more plausible than Libertinism.  Nine out of ten times we make choices with deciding external factor that can’t be changed.  Rather it be spending the day inside or outside depending on the weather or deciding to lie in certain situations.  As stated above, we can be placed under stressful situations and our choices are reflected upon our environment and not necessarily our self. In terms of Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Randomness the distance between electrons are determined by the environment and not how far apart we want them.  Yes we have the power to make a decision and accept the positive or negative results that we get from them. With Libertinism we have the power to lie to someone by our own will or by force. The majority of the time we lie to protect ourselves or someone else, most of the factors of lying are by external influences that can’t be changed.

(A)   Libertarianism has more explanatory breadth because it covers more on why acted the way they did and made the choice they did. For example if someone commits a crime, like stealing. Most of the time when you ask why someone committed a crime they would have a reason for it. The reason they stole could be solely their own temptation or someone held a gun to their head.  

(B)   In explanatory depth Libertinism is more connected to it. An example of this is when the man stole bread for his family. The man gave the reason that he was hungry and had no food. On the other hand the man also stole food because he was forced to by someone else. Another example is when the man was told to leave his office. Some say he left to go for his lunch break. However Determinist say that his boss forced him to leave.

(C)   For simplicity, the determinists view is more simplistic as it has only one cause for our actions and that is not free will. Then Libertarians are more complex with two reasons for our actions such as free will and innate actions that we fully choose to take part in.

(D)  For conservatism they are the same. It depends on view point of people and religious or philosophical belief. Some believe our actions are caused by forced situations and others feel that our actions are completely upon our own choosing. Both decision making are results of the way we live our daily lives.

 

1.      Libertarianism and determinism are the most plausible explanations of human behavior

2.      Determinists are more simplistic and realistic while Libertinisms has more logical explanatory breadth and explanatory depth.

3.      Therefore Determinism is the best way to explanation of our action

Blog Post 3

Neli Pani

Professor Rex

PHI 100

2 November 2014

Hard Determinism

Libertarianism defines that a human has certain free will, which is an uncaused reason. There is no reason behind those actions we have done. Hard determinism is where free will doesn’t exist. People will force you to makes decisions you wouldn’t necessary think of.

         Hard determinism seems to be more plausible. An example is as a kid we have been told that we need to go to school and graduate high school. Then go to college to get a degree and get a job in the field you majored. We weren’t given free will because our parents always told us to go to school and to not drop out. We are just going with the flow and we don’t know if going to college is our choice. Hard determinism is more plausible than libertarianism. The reason is in this world we have people who force us to do actions we want to do and not. There certain moments where we have free will but when we are pressured we tend to do the opposite of we want to do. Libertarianism defines itself saying everyone has free will. In reality, it’s not true. We do actions for no reason. When we do things and we always think about that circumstances that will happen. The effects that happen to people will definitely have affect us in some certain way.

         For explanatory breadth, libertarianism explains more types of human behavior. When we want to do something we do it without thinking, which shows what type of person we are. Hard determinism fails to address the fact that people do whatever they want, without thinking about it.

         For explanatory depth, libertarianism describes what people do what they want. As for hard determinism they are constrained to do certain things. Libertarianism explanations are more detailed because we have free will and choose to do what we want even without bearing consequence.  

         For simplicity, libertarianism have fewer parts because when people get into trouble they aren’t held responsible. There could be hidden errors because they do want they want. Hard determinism is more complex because we don’t have free will even though we think we do.

         For conservatism, hard determinism is more current with our common sense than other theories because we think we have free will but we actually don’t, for an example we think we want to go to college and we think its our actual decision but we have been all our life hearing our parents talk about us going to college that it is actually what they want for us, causing a constrained choice on our part. It is more consistent because we deal with hard determinism everyday of our lives, we will always hear the others pushing for our decision we have to make.

1.  Hard determinism and libertarians are the most plausible explanations of free will.

2. Hard determinism has more conservatism, whereas libertarianism has little more explanatory breadth, explanatory depth, and simplicity.

3. Therefore, hard determinism is the best explanation of free will.

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. 

Adam Schwabacher

Free Will

                Free will is the power that a single person has to make decisions and choose their own chooses. People will argue that they do not have free will or that they have to do what people tell them to do. When you are at work you usually do what your boss tells yon to do or the same when you are in military services. These people are known as Determinism. What people mostly people in the choice of free will is Libertarianism. Libertarianism is the belief that you could choose that people do have free will.  When you are a libertarian you can choose your way and it will adopt.

                The side of libertarianism is the most argued type of free will. The ability of having your own free will is that people can choose what they want to do in life and adjust to the situation. People that have their own free can make them decisions and not worry about the consequences. People that don’t have their own free will cannot be in charged with what they are doing in their life. One example of this is someone in the military. Someone in the military can’t make their own choices in life because they have to follow orders. In the movie “A Few Good Men” the army cadets on trial were charged with killing another cadets. The hull premise of that movie was to convict the two men as murders. In the movie Tom Cruise was able to have the army General admit that it was an order to kill the other man in the army. This is a good example of Determinism. In the movie “Top Gun” Tom Cruise use Libertinism. He is able to demonstrates this when he is flying his plane against his orders in the air force. In the movie he is does most of the things that he wants to do against orders. He would fly his plane in restricted air spaces and would also go against orders. He demonstrate being a Libertinism in this movie due to the fact that he would make his own decisions when he was flying and on the grounds. When he is going against orders and making his own choices it is the best way to demonstrate Libertarianism.

                In explanatory depth Libertinism is more connected to it. An example of this is when people steal like the example of a man stealing bread for his family. Also when someone steal when they don’t need it, it a takes the same situation. Things such as compass are known intact actions. We want defend this actions but it is hard when Determinist make it difficult to.

                For simplicity Libertarians want to protect their innate actions and free will. While Determinist want to make it hard for Libertarians to have free will.

                Conservatism is a something that works with each other. The differences lie in in different views of each other like culture or religion.

Libertarian and Determinist are the easiest ways explanation of our actions.

Libertarians have greatest Explanatory breadth and depth while Determinists are more simplistic.

Therefore libertarian is the best way to explanation of our action

Gabrielle Pierre-Louis

Philosophy - 100

Prof. Rex

Blog 3

Free Will Debate

As some people say there are always two sides or more to something’s. As in free will there are two sides, which are Libertarianism and Hard Determinism.  Libertarianism means when human beings have free will – the ability to control and change our actions. Libertarianism is saying that our actions happen by choice. Hard Determinism means human beings lack of free will, i.e., spontaneity, because all events are causes by earlier psychological or physical events. Consequently, Hard Determinism is saying that human beings are not morally responsible for their actions. So our actions are pre-programmed, so something’s that we do aren’t fault.

In debate I side with libertarianism because it can explain how human behave, compared to determinism. I believe that a lot of our actions happen because of our decisions in life. For example in the reading about Free Will, when Gandhi fasted for a week it was his own choice to do so – compared to the prisoner who got beat up to sign a paper that was against his own will. Gandhi had a choice to go for a week without eating where as the prisoner didn’t have a choice.  In life I believe that things aren’t preprogrammed as determinists thinks, because at times we make our choices base on events that happened to us.

Libertarianism has more explanatory breadth because it covers more on why people did what they did. They always try to find the cause on why people did what they did. For example if someone commit a crime, like stealing or killing. Most of the time when you ask why did they commit these crimes, usually they have reasons on why they did so. Like a robber who robs someone’s purse or the bank, they’ll say because they needed money. They stole on their own, it was there decision to commit a crime that resolve in consequences.

Determinism has more explanatory depth, because it explains why human behave the way they do better than libertarianism. Determinism explains why people become the way they are, and they go back to there childhood. Looking back on their childhood Determinists go more in depth on how our environment, society and media shaped our minds to think and act the way we do. Libertarianism says that we have free will, but doesn’t give us the reason on why we think the way we do.

Determinism is more simplistic because it only has one cause of our actions being preprogrammed. Where as libertarianism is more complex and giving our two reasons on free will and innate actions.

For conservatism they’re equal, it all depends on the person. Some people are religious seeing things way different then philosophers or there beliefs. Some believe our actions happen because of our environment, the way we grew up or even the media. Others believe that things happen because of our life experience or even the decisions we made in the past.

1. Libertarianism and determinism are the most plausible explanations of human behavior

2. Libertarianism has much more explanatory breadth and conservatism, whereas determinism has a little more explanatory depth and simplicity

3. Therefore, libertarianism is the best explanation of human behavior.