Do We Have Free Will?: Compatibilist View. The
Seventeenth century philosopher Thomas Hobbes believes that the kind of freedom that is necessary for moral responsibility is consistent with determinism. As he says with characteristic terseness, "Liberty and necessity are consistent." Contemporary...
What is Human Nature?: Judao-Christian Tradition: Free Will, The
In the story of the Fall God punishes Adam and Eve for eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Those marks of punishment became known as original sin and are closely tied to another aspect of human nature, free will. In the Christian tradition spirit may...
Making Up People
Philosopher Ian Hacking talks about the link between the way we classify and conceptualize actions and how we define those actions, as well as how we act. He notes that these methods of classifying and conceptualizing change over time, which means t...
Do We Have Free Will?: If Determinism were True...
If determinism is true then would our ideas about moral responsibility and punishment have to change as well? Some philosophers contend that we have to think of ourselves as behaving freely even in a world in which there is just one path open to us....
Do We Have Free Will?: Question of Free Will, The
In Chicago in the 1920s, two 18-year old college students charged with killing a school boy are on trial for murder. Their defense attorney, Clarence Darrow, argue that they were doomed long before they committed their terrible crime. His passionate...
Do We Have Free Will?: Libertarian Perspective on Free Will
Libertarianism asserts we are free to act in other ways than we do. At any given moment it is possible to decide among alternative paths, but choosing one may mean that other options are no longer available. Ancient philosophers believed that we mak...
Free Will
Philosopher John Searle argues that even if all our behavior is determined and we don't have determinism, there's no way to actually live according to that conviction. Quoting Immanuel Kant, Professor Searle states that, "...You can't think away you...
Elbow Room
Philosopher Daniel Dennett talks about his book, Elbow Room. He notes that elbow room, the idea of freedom as maneuverability, is a metaphor for free will. The real threats to this form of free will, according to Professor Dennett, are not metaphysi...
Free Will (Part I)
Philosopher Daniel Dennett talks about free will, which he says is probably "the most accessible and grabbing of all the philosophical problems." He notes that most people are worried that if they don't have free will, they are nothing but a puppet ...
Free Will (Part 2)
Philosopher Daniel Dennett continues his discussion of free will. While we may never have the absolute free will that comes from determining agent causation, Professor Dennett suggests that, if we are able to act in an informed manner and take the a...