Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

to obeying those in positions of authority. These and other social needs will define the individual and determine who they are as a person. • Free will: People make their choices by free will. The actions made will shape the person since they are responsible for the consequences of their actions. Actions compelled by external constraints (determinism), such as being threatened, are said to be unfree. An alternative school of thought, compatibilism, says that actions are compelled by internal factors, such as our personality, are therefore are free. Views of Free Will Free will, defined as our ability to choose between different courses of action and is linked to the beliefs associated with free actions, such as responsibility, praise, guilt, persuasion, deliberation, and prohibition. These judgments serve no purpose unless different courses of action produce different results. Customarily, we can only judge the actions of others that are controlled by free will. Without free will, then we cannot punish nor reward the individual of their actions. Many people are concerned about the threats to free will. The severity of these concerns is subject to debate based off the level of free will each human has. Some view free will to mean origination. Origination gives the individual the power to break the causal chain of events, thus allowing someone to make an action that has not been caused by any other previous events, external or internal. There are two opposing concerns of though when it comes to what drives human action, determinism and compatibilism. Earlier we learned about determinism, which suggests that only one course of an event is possible. Determinism contradicts the notation of free will which believes that there are presented with multiple actions. The merger of these two ideas in one universe is inconsistent. Formally, we refer to the view that free will is incompatible with determinism as compatibilism which encompasses both metaphysical and libertarianism. Compatibilism claims that determinism is false and thus free will is possible. On the other hand, hard determinism argues that determinism is true and thus free will is not feasible. It also encompasses hard compatibilism, which holds not only determinism but also its negation to be incompatible with free will thus making free will impossible regardless of the level of determinism. In contrast, some compatibilists hold that free will is compatible with determinism. They even argue that determinism is needed for free will. Their argument is that choices involve us to choose one action over another. Requiring a sense of how different actions will pan out. • Hard determinism: The freedom for humans to make choices is an illusion. Human actions are a result of previous events being controlled by the casual laws of the universe. • Compatibilism: The freedom for people to make choices is dependent upon whether their actions are a result of internal or external forces. The actions we take are driven by either internal forces, free will, or external forces. Actions caused by external forces are operating by the casual laws of the universal.

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