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Paper #2 - Prompt #2
Philosophy 1000
Professor Israelsen
Is there an answer to the question, does free will exist? In this paper I will argue that
we must affirm libertarian free will to make sense of moral responsibility. This topic has been
argued for many years because neither religion nor science has adequately and/or completely
answered the question. Do we have free will or do things in our lives occur by a cause and effect
model rather than free will choices? This question is more complex than it appears on the
surface. When addressing these philosophical theories all research must be carefully pondered in
order to develop a meaningful argument. Obviously, most people would say that we are all
responsible for our own choices, but there are those who believe that we may not be, or at least
not fully. In this paper I will take a position, present the opposing argument, critique the
First, what is libertarian free will? Libertarians affirm free will is the theory that
people are free to make choices in their lives. They further argue that chance or random events
also play a part in peoples decision making. The idea that people can deliberate about a decision
is used as an argument that they have free will. If people truly lack libertarian free will then it
would be difficult to hold them accountable for their actions. I further believe that responsibility
is impossible without libertarian freedom. To truly be held accountable people must be the
decision makers. Additionally, if accountability doesnt exist then people would not be praised
for their accomplishments and there would be no social standing, only predetermined paths.
This is not to say that people are not products of their environment. A child may be
shaped by things like neglect or abuse or moving from foster home to foster home. However, I
believe that even if people have harmful things happen to them in their youth, they are still
responsible for their actions. Are they more likely to commit crimes or do harmful things to
others? Maybe, but for every abused person who commits a crime there are others who were
abused who did not commit a crime, thus X does not always equal Y. In a civilized society
I believe that we must affirm libertarian free will to make sense of moral responsibility.
Libertarians believe that there are factors that affect how people make choices, like beliefs,
motivations, desires, and other emotional factors. An example of making our own choices would
be choosing to purchase a sports car or a minivan for your family. Having free will allows the
person to make the decision of either option and the choice may be dependent on desires, beliefs,
motivations, etc. Ultimately, this boils down to the freedom of choice not necessarily the
outcome.
The opposing view of Libertarian free will is that of Determinism. Determinism is the
theory that all events are simply cause and effect and based on prior experiences. The
Consequence Argument stated informally by Peter Van Inwagen states, If determinism is true,
then our acts are the consequences of the laws of nature and events in the remote past. But it is
not up to us what went on before we were born; and neither is it up to us what the laws of nature
are. Therefore, the consequences of these things including our own acts are not up to
us. (Kane, 22) Critics further argue that events that are random or occur by chance are believed
to impede free will, because the individual did not make a choice. This means that people are
not responsible for their own actions because they didnt actually make the choices. The choices
were predetermined based on cause and effect and prior experiences. Therefore, an argument can
be made that if determinism is true then people cannot ultimately be held responsible for their
actions.
The opposing view seems somewhat implausible. If all lives had a predetermined path
then people would never deliberate or change their path. There are many times in society that
people make choices outside of what loved one would think they would make. How could this
be explained if our paths were all predetermined? Where does this theory account for self or
character or even real time situations and emotions? One could argue that if determinism is true
then it would make it possible to label people as either a 0 or a 1, which in turn would
Further the opposing view tries to use quantitative data to explain the cause and effect for
every person on a larger scale than one-to-one. Rule Alpha. There is nothing anyone can do to
change what must be the case (or what is necessarily so) and Rule Beta. If there is nothing
anyone can do to change X, and nothing anyone can do to change the fact that Y is a necessary
consequence of X, then there is nothing anyone can do to change Y either. This is the definition
of cause and effect with little room for variance. An example to disprove this would be identical
twins growing up in the same environment and making different choices as they progress
through life. Arguably the same X does not always result in the same Y; cause and effect. (Kane,
25)
To further support my thesis, I believe that our society has subscribed to the theory that
citizens of the world have libertarian free will. This is evidenced by the fact that we have a legal
system that holds its citizens accountable for their actions. We even have legal defenses that
describe under what circumstances a person is not responsible for their own actions, like mental
health or extreme trauma. We even have legal cases where minors are tried in an adult court
because we believe they should have known better and should be held accountable for their
actions. This means that, without extenuating circumstances, all individuals are held accountable
I think that libertarian free will is further evidenced by social programs created to
improve peoples choices and lives. What about programs our societies have in place to help
people make better choices, like addiction rehabilitation, prison rehabilitation, job rehabilitation,
marriage counseling, etc. All of these kinds of social programs help people look at their current
situations from a new perspective. The new perspective challenges them to look at other viable
choices that will produce different outcomes. There is research to show that these programs are
at least modestly successful in regards to outcomes. If determinism is true then none of these
programs would be able to create a situation where people make different choices. Although,
when studying how people make choices one may be able to draw some likely conclusions, but
to subscribe to the theory that if X occurs then Y must occur, seems extreme.
In conclusion, I have argued that we must affirm libertarian free will to make sense of
moral responsibility. I think human beings want to believe that we all have free will and make
our own choices. It makes us feel like we have control over our lives and can change directions
if we so choose. These ideas likely influenced my thesis and how I responded to the research
regarding determinism. Even though in this paper I have argued against determinism, I by no
means think that the determinism theory is without merit. The black and white nature of the
cause and effect determinism theory makes it difficult to accept. I do however, believe that
libertarian free will exists in our world and that it is necessary to hold people accountable; our
Works Cited