PHIL 1100 Lecture Notes - Compatibilism, Hard Determinism, Determinism
Document Summary
W. t. stace external constraints may limit freedom. Determinist in the tradition of d"holbach but wants to establish the existence of free will and personal responsibility within deterministic framework. A commitment to hard determinism undermines the reality of human affairs. If free will is an illusion then it makes no sense to encourage people to make enlightened moral choices and to hold them morally responsible. Philosophical hypocrisy people think, behave and live their lives as if they have free choice. Free acts: gandhi fasting because he wanted to free india, stealing bread because one is hungry, signing a confession because one wanted to tell the truth, leaving the office because one wanted one"s lunch. Unfree acts: the man fasting in the desert because there was no food, stealing because one"s employer threatened to beat one, signing because the police beat one, leaving because forcibly moved. Free acts caused by desires, motives, or internal psychological states.
