Sage-Tips

How is free will compatible with determinism?

Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are mutually compatible and that it is possible to believe in both without being logically inconsistent. Compatibilists believe that freedom can be present or absent in situations for reasons that have nothing to do with metaphysics.

Does determinism undermine free will?

Since determinism implies that agents could not have done otherwise once initial conditions and the laws of nature are held fixed, it follows that free will and moral responsibility are incompatible with determinism.

What is the argument in support of determinism?

The mind does not so much experience cause as cause experience. Upon this basis the argument for determinism proceeds as follows: Like effects have like causes, the effect is like the cause, the effect is in fact the cause transformed, as the lightning is the effect of the preceding electrical conditions.

Can you have internal determinism and external free will?

So as a result, free will can influence our destiny and future. As the final result, it is not possible to have external determinism and internal free will.

What did William James believe about free will?

By limiting chance to the generation of alternative possibilities, James was the first to overcome the standard two-part argument against free will, i.e., that the will is either determined or random. James gave it elements of both, to establish freedom but preserve responsibility.

What does William James believe in free will?

William James. William James simply asserted that his will was free. As his first act of freedom, he said, he chose to believe his will was free. He was encouraged to do this by reading Charles Renouvier.

What is determinism and how does it threaten free will and moral responsibility?

Determinism does not allow for free will because it implies that humans are never the ultimate originators of their actions. Indeterminism does no better, for it can imply only that human decisions are completely random.

Can free will and causal determinism coexist?

→ Free will and causal determinism cannot coexist, bcz each does not exist in the very first place.

How is the concept of determinism opposed to freedom?

Psychologlists who take the free will view suggest that determinism removes freedom and dignity, and devalues human behavior. By creating general laws of behavior, deterministic psychology underestimates the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose their own destiny. …

Why is determinism incompatible with free will?

But free will requires the ability to do otherwise, and determinism is incompatible with this. Hence, the classical compatibilist account of free will is inadequate. Determinism is incompatible with free will and moral responsibility because determinism is incompatible with the ability to do otherwise.