Preview

Our Freedom To Make Ethical Choices Is Only An Apparent Freedom

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
583 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Our Freedom To Make Ethical Choices Is Only An Apparent Freedom
‘Our freedom to make ethical choices is only an apparent freedom’

Determinism- implies that human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions
Accepting that we are not free- our behaviour is the product of forces over which we have no control. (USE EXAMPLE FROM JAMES RACHELS)
Our capacity to experience emotions/ compassion does NOT depend on free will
We will have reason for our actions, even if we lack free will. We would still have the same goals, but viewing them as ‘our goals’ would slightly change- instead we would view them as products of our make up, our brains and the influence of our enviroments.
Fatallistic attitude – why give to charity when the children are going to be sick anyway? You not giving to charity means they are going to be worse off.
Our actions would be rational, even if it was not free- it would be rational and deliberately aimed at the outcome we wanted.
Even without free will, we will still be generous, brave,cowardly,kind or cruel. We just have more of an understanding to why people are bad- less judgemental. however all other events that occur in the world are effects of “ordinary causal sequences” our decisions and following actions are effects of causes (causal sequences) also
“If this is so, we surely have good reason, a strong inferential base, for taking the same to be true of the decisions and actions”
Ted Honderich
EXAMPLE: a clever scientist presses the button of “Bob’s” mind machine causing him to decide to go for a walk
He may think it was him that chose to go for a walk
They are clearly not his decisions

EG 2: scientist only influences “Mary’s “ thoughts
She is unaware that these ideas were not her own
He continues to introduce these ideas into her mind which she may never had entertained – such as watching EastEnders
Can you say that these ideas are really hers?

AGAINST
James Rachels – our freedom, they say, is essential to our dignity as moral beings. It seperates us from animals.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    I would lean more towards the compatibilist view stating, unless I am the cause of my actions I am not responsible for them. As compatibilist holds that free will and determinism are compatible, we can properly understand what it means for our actions to be free so we see that a free action is doing what one wants. Believing in compatibilism doesn't mean the determinist view is false, but if it is true, we can still have free will. I believe that we make decisions based on our own desires and beliefs. It is said that compatibilists attempt to revise and weaken the commonsense notion of free will. Thomas Hobbes was the first person to articulate a compatibilist position believing that although the person is free to act on their motive, the motive is determined. In other words, he says “Everything we choose to do is strictly determined by the need to relieve the physical pressures of our bodies. Humans…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    were given a questionnaire to view their “general satisfaction” (Tierney 2). Tierney claimed that people who believe in free will “scored better job ratings” (Tierney 2). This proves that believing in free will can lead to a more ethical society through believing that a person has control on their actions. In other words, a teenager would understand that stealing is wrong; therefore, he knows that it’s his choice to steal. In the back of the teenagers head, he has to think of the consequences. This proves that when a person believes that he has free will, he is more likely to think of…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I personally believe that we as human beings are given free will. For instance, lets say there is an all omniscient God and lets say he knows what we will do and what our destiny is but he sends you a problem to over come such as,…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Stan Lee, creator of many of the Marvel movies, once said, “With great power there must also come… great responsibility.” Free will is like a great power that has been given to us. It can be used for good and evil. As humans, we believe that we have a choice in everything. Thus the idea of free will. But because of that choice there will always be a downside to free will.…

    • 406 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Phl458 Week 1

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages

    "Free will is the capacity to respond in ways that oppose even the strongest influences. Free will is itself a causative factor, and one that can trump all others" (Ruggiero, 2019, p. 37). We all have a choice in any situation, although one's ethics or morals can influence choices, nevertheless the choice to react in one way or another is one's free will.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Most people like to think that human beings possess free will, at least with regard to a wide range of actions. In contrast, however, some believe that certain people lack the aspect of free will. Many great theorists have contended that the reason some people may, indeed, lack free will is not so much due to the determined nature of their choices and behavior, but rather due to the fact that their behavior is not responsive to their choices in such…

    • 3184 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    James Cone

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This freedom cannot be bought, inherited or given, but it must be taken, by force, in the attempt…

    • 1148 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Am I free and responsible for my actions? I believe that I have not been in any circumstances where I have made an ethical decision that I was not free to make. I try to live by the rule that I will not do something that I believe to be wrong. I try to make decisions that will not hurt me or other people. I am sure that sometime in my life I will be put in a situation where I may not be able to make a free choice. I hope at that time that the good will overturn the bad.…

    • 278 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Free Will vs. Determinism

    • 1948 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Now you may be thinking, “I have a choice on what I do” well not according to this theory or any of the other ones in determinism. This idea…

    • 1948 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Is it right to say that our actions are determined, or are they free? Hard determinists argue that when we make a moral decision, we have no free will. This is significant because if we do not choose our actions we cannot be held morally responsible. Given our experience of decision making this determinist position is hard to accept and perhaps the compatabilist approach of soft determinism is more valid. Soft Determinists recognise that we can make a decision freely that is coerced but the choices in themselves may be determined themselves. This contrasts with libertarianism, which states that we freely choose our actions and rejects determinism.…

    • 1582 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The question over the existence of free will has raged on over many years. Many feel that God, saw an omniscient being, must be aware of all that has happened and all that will happen. Supporters of the cosmological argument would suggest that everything has a cause and that god was the initial cause, “the unmoved mover” (Tomas Aquinus), this would support the idea that humanity has no free will as everything is pre determined. This highlights the idea that humanity is not free, and even when we think we have a choice our actions have already been determined.…

    • 2022 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hard determinism followers such as John Hospers said that there is always something which compels each human to externally and internally perform an action that we would consider was the result of our own free will. He says “it is all a matter of luck”. Hospers would strongly agree that we are not responsible for any actions. He believes in other factors.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free Will, power or ability of the human mind to choose a course of action or make a decision without being subject to restraints imposed by antecedent causes, by necessity, or by divine predetermination. A completely freewill act is itself a cause and not an effect; it is beyond causal sequence or the law of causality. The question of human beings’…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to A.J. Ayer, the problem of free will arises from the apparent incompatibility of two common assumptions about human action : excepting certain rare and easily identifiable cases, human action is free in the sense required for holding agents responsible for their actions, and that like all events, human actions are governed by deterministic causal laws. If human actions are governed by such laws, it would seem that we are never free to act otherwise than we do and hence that we can never be held responsible for what we do. Much of the free will debate has proceeded with determinists on one side affirming and denying and those Ayer calls “moralists” doing exactly the opposite in an attempt to preserve the reality or legitimacy of moral responsibility. Ayer believes that this way of proceeding is hopeless for the moralists because so long as we understand the freedom required for moral responsibility as freedom from causal determination, then will be false whether it is true or not. Ayer argues that the freedom required for moral responsibility should not be construed as freedom from causal determination, but rather as freedom from compulsion or constraint. This kind of freedom, he argues, is compatible with the principle that all events are causally determined. The moralist agrees with the determinist that if our actions are determined by causal laws, then we are not free in the sense required by moral responsibility. So, if he is to maintain that we are free and responsible, he must deny Determinism. But, Ayer would demand, the denial of Determinism can be of no help to the moralist. If our actions are not under the purview of causal laws, then to that extent, they are random and…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    everything in history

    • 2095 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Attribution Theory And Its Applications To Academic Behavior Attribution Theory Rotter (1956) Precursor to Attribution Theory Locus of Control Varied on two dimensions: internal or external. Attribution Theory Fritz Heider (1958)…

    • 2095 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays