Freedom and Determinism

1
Freedom and Determinism

• What can I control?
• For what am I responsible?
• Is freedom an illusion?

2
(No Transcript)
3
Contingencies for Freedom
4
(No Transcript)
5
Freedom/Determinism Continuum
Assumed Freedom
Passive Self-Determinism Soft Determinism
Active Self-Determinism
Scientific Determinism
Indeterminism
Freedom
Determinism
6
Hard Determinism

• Scientific Determinism
• Natural Law dictates universal causation.
• Empirical world forbids full freedom.
• Fate and Destiny (Oedipus, Romeo Juliet)
• Predestination (Calvin God the Controller)
• But arent we free within our limits?
• But cant we make some choices?

7
star-crossed lovers
8
Free Inside of Gods Control?
9
Indeterminism

• Some cases are independent of causes.
• Descartes (infinite free will gift of God)
• James (pure chance proves free will)
• Peirce (chance events prove freedom exists)
• Heisenberg (particles can act contrary to natural
  law)
• Quantum mechanics (irrational part of nature)
• Chaos theory (paradoxical reality freedom)

10
(No Transcript)
11
Critiques

• Fate
• Why then do we act at all?
• Predestination
• Then how can God judge us?
• Indeterminism
• We live in a cause/effect universe.
• Free will
• We choose in the context of causes.

12
Moral Freedom the Problem

• Religious life
• I am free within certain doctrinal limits.
• Secular life
• I am free within the consequences of my actions
  on others.
• But how do I judge my subjectivity?
• Am I doomed to a tainted morality?

13
Self-Determinism I Soft Determinism

• Persons are free causal agents.
• Passive (Hobbes, Locke, Hume)
• Free in the absence of coercion.
• Our personal desires exist inside of the
  framework of free choices.
• To the degree to which we express ourselves we
  are free.
• Psychological and social conditions limit this.

14
On Freedom of Expression
15
Self-Determinism II Insightful Awareness

• Persons are free causal agents
• Active (Aquinas, Dewey)
• Unfree in the presence of external controls.
• We can learn to be free as we develop our own
  methods of control.
• To the degree that we engage in action toward
  ideal ends we are free.
• Insight into human behavior may be beyond our
  full awareness.

16
Freedom as an Assumption

• Since there is no sufficient proof for
  determinism exists, I have the right to assume
  that I am free.
• For my life to have meaning, I have to take on
  the assumption that I am free.

17
Albert Camus

• To what extent is human life a conveyor of
  meaning?

18
The Myth of Sisyphus

• What freedom do humans have in a universe devoid
  of gods?
• Is Sisyphus a metaphor for us?
• What is the value of accepting ones fate?
• Choose mindless suffering or mindful suffering?
• What if Sisyphus were a woman?