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Freewill and determinism checklist
1) The meanings of hard and soft determinism and libertarianism
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Determinism: the idea that all actions are governed by laws outside of our control
Hard determinism: The teaching that denies that humans have free will and believes that ALL
actions have a prior cause. Thus a person does NOT have moral responsibility for their actions.
Disadvantages of hard determinism: 1) Hard determinism says it is wrong to praise someone for
doing good as their good action has not been freely chosen. 2) Hard determinism implies that a
person cannot be held morally responsible for their actions, so a criminal cannot be held
responsible and be punished!
Libertarianism: The idea that we ARE morally responsible for all of our actions and we are free to make
choices. The opposite of determinism
Therefore: Humans are completely free and nothing is determined by external factors, Humans
ARE morally responsible for all actions and their effects. Cause and effect is not relevant as all
moral actions are the result of individual character or values, Choice is free and there is no
compulsion to act. This is called INCOMPATIBILISM because it is incompatible with
determinism
Weaknesses of libertarianism: To say that every decision is free is to discount the influence of
other factors, e.g. our background, upbringing. It also dismisses whether our decisions are the
result of factors outside of our control, such as conscience, genetics and psychological factors.
Soft determinism: The teaching that says humans can be both determined and free as some of
our moral choices are free but aspects of our nature are determined.
An attempt to combine determinism and libertarianism, seeks to bring freedom and
accountability (libertarianism) together with the sense that choices are predetermined by prior
choices, also known as ‘compatibilism’ as it believes that both libertarianism and determinism
ARE compatible, Soft determinists say that some acts are determined but we have some moral
responsibility for our actions regardless of whether they are determined or chosen
Problems with Soft determinism: 1) If humans are responsible – they ought to have been totally
free to perform the action to truly accept the responsibility, 2) Hard determinists argue that soft
determinists fail to realise the extent to which human freedom is limited. 3) Libertarians say
that soft determinism fails to realise the degree of human freedom which exists. 4) Soft
determinists have not agreed on precisely what is and what is not a determining factor in
human action.
2. The views of Clarence Darrow, Ted Honderich, David Hume and John Locke
 Darrow (Hard Determinist): Defended two teenage killers in 1924. The two boys believed they
were superior to the rest of society and could commit the perfect crime. The crime failed, both
were caught and faced the death penalty if convicted. Darrow defended the boys arguing that
“The two murderers were the product of their wealthy upbringing and therefore couldn’t be held
morally responsible for their actions – they weren’t free to choose”. The sentence was therefore
changed to life imprisonment.
 Honderich (hard determinist): believed that everything is determined, both externally and
internally. There is no choice and therefore there can not be moral responsibility. He can see no
room for moral blame and subsequently no point in punishing someone just for the sake of
punishing them.
 Hume (Libertarian): said that we can choose to do something, or we can choose not to do
something. Said this was down to the power and determinations of the individual human will.
Quote: “My ideas were that if Act B is observed to always follow Act A, then it is not correct to say
that Act A causes Act B. We cannot say this as it is not determined, it is merely our interpretation
of what we have observed.”
 Locke (Soft determinist): argued that ‘free will’ did not make any sense and that to a certain
extent it was an ‘illusion’, Said the defining part of human behaviour is that you pause and
reflect before making a choice, therefore deciding what the consequences of the action. He used
the example of a man sleeping in a locked room. The man chooses to remain there but does not
know that the room is locked. He believes he has made a free choice but in reality he had no
choice. Therefore he is determined.
3. Theological determinism (predestination) and religious ideas of free will.
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Predestination: The belief that God already knew who would be saved and go to heaven and
who would not be saved before the creation of the world. Therefore humans have no free will
to choose. This is also known as Theological determinism.
Belief originated with St Paul’s letter to the Romans: “For those God foreknew He also predestined
to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He may be the firstborn among all brothers. And
those He predestined, He also called; those He called, he also put right with Himself; those He put
right with Himself; He also glorified.” (Rom 8: 29 – 30).
Developed by St Augustine of Hippo who argued: We need God’s grace and mercy to be good;
Grace and mercy are God’s free gifts which humans do not deserve; Only God can choose who
will receive the grace that is required for salvation. Quote: “The potter has authority over the
clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for contempt.”
Further developed by Jean Calvin, French Protestant reformer. He argued: Man is inherently evil
Man is not capable of doing good as his freewill chooses to reject God. Therefore God has
predestined those to be saved and those to be condemned. If He had not predestined those to
be saved no one could be saved because of their rebellion. Man is so full of sin that he can not
do anything but reject God, But God, through His gift of grace, has predestined those who will
be saved otherwise no one would be capable of being saved.
Problems with predestination: 1) If God predestined those who would be saved and those who
would not be saved, humans cannot be held morally responsible for their actions as they did
not have the free will to choose. 2) If humans are not free then their good deeds are not their
own as God had predetermined them. 3) Those who do sinful acts cannot be held morally
responsible as God had predetermined them 4) Predestination implies that the Omni
benevolent God created people to condemn them. 3) This counters other Biblical passages e.g.
John 3: 16 “For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son; that whosoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. 4) Does predestination mean that there is really
no place for repentance?
Freewill: The ability to make free and unhindered choices.
Adam and Eve were given the free will to choose to choose between Knowledge (and
subsequent death) and eternal life (in ignorance). This was not predestined and the Bible
implies that they were given free will.
St Thomas Aquinas argued God created humans with free will. Quote: “Man chose not of
necessity but freely”
Problems with free will: If God is omniscient then He must know who would be saved and who
would be condemned. Does this mean that humans really have free will.
However: It could be argued that God has given humans free will to choose but He does know
what the choices would be. However He still allows humans to make the choices. Therefore
humans are free to make moral choices of whether to obey or disobey God and the choice of
whether to accept the free gift of God’s grace which saves them
The views of Pelagius: (Early Christian ascetic c.4th/5th Century). Wrote extensively on the
freedom of the human will and taught that humans could avoid being sinful and freely choose
to obey God’s commands. This brought him into direct opposition with St Augustine of Hippo,
especially concerning Augustine’s doctrine of original sin.
The views of Arminius: Libertarian defender of the traditional concept of providence amongst
the Reformers (i.e. humans have free will to choose to follow God. This is contrary to
Predestination.)
4. The influences of genetics, psychology, environment or social conditioning on moral
choices.
 Psychology: Behaviourism (a theory that our behaviour could be predicted as it is based on
prior experiences and causes) backed by J B Watson. Said: Human behaviour could be
controlled because we live in a deterministic universe that doesn’t leave anything up to choice
This includes all areas of ethics and moral decision making in this belief because these are all
known and determinable in a universe that can be nothing but determined. Heredity (nature)
and environment (nurture) can be useful tools to change or reinforce forms of behaviour. So if
the environment is changed, so can the behaviour be too.
 B F Skinner said that our actions are probably determined by our psychological makeup – so we
cannot be held responsible for our actions if we could not have chosen to act in a different way.
 Sigmund Freud said our early years have a massive impact on our actions in the future. Prior
causes determine our moral development and our future actions.
All actions – moral and non moral are caused by ‘repressed’ or ‘subconscious’ memories or
feelings which stem back to our childhood.
 Social conditioning: The approach that people think and act in line with their social conditioning
rather than genetic determined factors or a real freedom of choice. Human action must have a
distinct social cause. If we are socially determined (i.e. we are determined as a result of society
around us) then all our actions are caused by something within society.
 Thomas Sowell argues that social conditioning is “the idea that the human self is infinitely plastic,
allowing humanity to be changed and ultimately, perfected”. Actions are determined by our
upbringing, education or whatever social setting we are in. Our social learning and placement is
what determines our actions and we can do nothing but follow the socially determined path.
 Genetic determinism claims almost all physical and behavioural aspects of humanity are
determined by genetics. This begs the question: if genes determine what we do – are we
morally responsible for our actions if we are only acting according to them? Our moral
reasoning may be the result of ‘evolution’.
 Steven Pinker argues: Moral reasoning is the result of natural selection as ideas such as love,
jealousy and guilt all have a basis in human biological evolution.
 Humans have responsibility as we have an evolved, yet innate, sense of morality
 Environmental determinism claims that geography and climate influence individuals more than
social conditioning does. Our climate affects the behaviour of society. So can weather and
environment affect our actions and possibly determine them?
 The nature / nurture debate: Some biologists think that people behave as they do because they
are animals who act according to animal instincts ( a ‘Nature theory’ of human behaviour).
Most sociologists believe that people do certain things and think certain things because they are
taught to do them (a ‘Nurture theory’ of human behaviour). Sociologists think that people act as
they do because they learned to be the people that they are.
5. The relationship between concepts of determinism/free will and religious beliefs and moral
attitudes
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Hard determinism implies that a person cannot be held morally responsible for their actions
Libertarianism implies that individuals are morally responsible for their moral actions as they
are completely free to choose.
Soft determinism implies that we have some moral responsibility for our actions
regardless of whether they are determined or chosen
Predestination implies that we are not morally responsible for our actions as they had
been predetermined by God. Therefore humans cannot be held morally responsible for their
actions as they did not have the free will to choose.
Psychological, Genetic, Social conditioning and environmentalism imply that although humans
have some moral responsibility these other factors should be taken into account.