PHL101Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Reductionism, Incompatibilism, Compatibilism
Neuroscientific Challenges to Free Will and Responsibility
Author: Adina Roskies
Recent neuroscientific findings shouldn’t cause more worry about the possibility of free will and
moral responsibility
oDeterminism on brain level does not lead to determinism in universe
oCan’t prove anything more than we are mechanisms
oThe belief our brains are deterministic won’t make people to abandon moral
responsibility
oNeuroscience doesn’t threaten the practice of ethics
1. Common sense notions exist outside of neuroscience
2. Neuroscience is not in a position to undermine intuitive notions
3. Our judgements of moral responsibility will remain unaffected
Vocabulary
Agent Causation: a type of causation due to agent choice
Compatibilism: freedom is compatible with determinism (soft determinism)
Determinism: the state of the universe is entire a function of physical law and the initial conditions of
the universe
Elminativism: science will show our folk psychological concepts (belief, desire, etc) to be scientifically
untenable, and that they should be abandoned.
Ephiphenomenalism: mental states are physical caused but have no physical effects
Hard Determinism: the universe is deterministic, and we are not free
Incompatibilism: claims freedom is incompatible with determinism.
In-compatibilists that believe in determinism are hard determinists
In-compatibilists that believe determinism is false are libertarians
Libertarianism: the universe is indeterministic, but we are still free. There are choice events and chance
events. Human choice is not subject to physical law but nonetheless stem from the operation of the will
and is causally efficacious.
Reductionism: high level concepts can be fully accounted for in terms of lower level concepts. The claim
is that mentalistic terms such as choice will be shown to be fully explicable in terms of brute mechanism.
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Document Summary
Recent neuroscientific findings shouldn"t cause more worry about the possibility of free will and moral responsibility: determinism on brain level does not lead to determinism in universe o o. Can"t prove anything more than we are mechanisms. The belief our brains are deterministic won"t make people to abandon moral responsibility: neuroscience doesn"t threaten the practice of ethics. Neuroscience is not in a position to undermine intuitive notions. Our judgements of moral responsibility will remain unaffected. Agent causation: a type of causation due to agent choice. Compatibilism: freedom is compatible with determinism (soft determinism) Determinism: the state of the universe is entire a function of physical law and the initial conditions of the universe. Elminativism: science will show our folk psychological concepts (belief, desire, etc) to be scientifically untenable, and that they should be abandoned. Ephiphenomenalism: mental states are physical caused but have no physical effects. Hard determinism: the universe is deterministic, and we are not free.
