PHLA10H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Hard Determinism, Determinism
Document Summary
Soft determinism says that that our actions are both free and causally determined: the objection gives an example of a man who, by free will, remains in a room in order to talk with a friend there. Unknown to him, is that the door of the room is actually locked. Even though he chooses to remain in the room from his own free will, it is clear that he couldn"t have done anything otherwise (leave the room). This objection raises a good point, in that if locke is correct in his explanation of the example, hume"s is mistaken with his theory. This is because you can perform an action freely even though you are restricted from acting in any other way. The man was free because he chose to stay in the room: a second order desire is a desire about what one"s desires should be like.
