Free Will

Quote of Newman and the voice of God as conscience

'An echo implies a voice, a voice a speaker, and that speaker I lover and fear'

Newman quote about conscience v the Pope

'I shall drink - to the Pope, if you please - still, to conscience first, and the pope afterwards'

Peter van Inwagen's Consequence Argument

'If determinism is true, then our acts are the consequences of the law of nature and events in the remote past...therefore, the consequences of these things (including present acts) are not up to us' (Essay on Free Will, 1983)

Darrow's quote about why we are not morally responsible for our actions

'If there is responsibility anywhere, it is back of him; somewhere in the infinite number of his ancestors, or in his surroundings or both'

What does Macnamara believe about conscience?

'It is not so much that I have a conscience - a special piece of equipment - as that I am a conscience'

Why does Butler believe conscience is inherently superior?

'The very idea of it involves authority' and it is a 'superior principle of refelction'

What is a quote by Butler about why conscience naturally judges other impulses?

'We can as little doubt that a feeling of shame is intended to prevent certain kinds of actions as we can that our eyes were given to guide our steps'

What is Augustine's view of conscience and God? (quote)

'Whatever you do, look to God as your witness'

What is the Butler quote about the faculty of conscience?

'You cannot form a notion of this faculty, conscience, without taking in judgement, direction and superintendency'

Butler quote: conscience

'magisterially exerts itself'

Quote: Augustine on the

'the movement of the will by which it turns this way or that [is] under its control' (similar to

What is Heternomous morality? (Piaget)

Between the ages of 5-10 this is where conscience is still immature, morality is based on consequences

How does St Augustine use free will to explain evil?

Blames our abuse of free will for evil, which doesn't undermine God's power or goodness

How are Augustine and Newman similar in their ideas of conscience?

Both see it as an echo of the voice of God

Predestination

Calvin's religious theory that God has already planned out a person's life.

How does Newman see conscience, reason and God?

Conscience is God's voice and gives us a moral direction and more sense than reason, its a separate entity that's 'sacred in its authority'

What does Macnamara believe about religion and conscience?

Conscience is informed by religious, moral and other influences, Christian conscience is based on religious books and teachings - up to the individual to think through each situation

What is Augustine's view of conscience in terms of God?

Conscience is often the voice of God, proper functioning relies completely on God's grace (Romans 2:14 - must refer to Gentile Christians because Gentiles without conversion are incapable of any true morality)

What does Ayer believe about causation?

Constraint not causation is compatible with freedom and responsibility

What is moral objectivism?

Despite differences from culture to culture, the same universal principles apply.

What does Ayer believe about determinism?

Determinism is essential to responsibility, we hold people responsible for actions which come from their character, without determinism actions would be random not free

What does Hume believe about causation?

Doesn't involve a metaphysical connection between cause and effect, its just a connection our minds make

What is Autonomous morality? (Piaget)

For 10+, where children develop their own rules and understand how rules operate within society

What does Campbell believe about Libertarian free will?

Free human acts are caused simply by the agent ('agent causation' not by the effects of your character ans circumstances)

What is Predestination? Who preached it?

God chooses individuals for salvation, not dependent on their actions, just their soul

Ted Honderich

Hard Determinist who argued that everything can be explained

B.F Skinner

Hard determinist that studied operant conditioning- where we learn through consequences of behaviour

Clarence Darrow

Hard determinist who defended Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold in a murder trial, arguing that they could not be held morally responsible for their actions as they were predetermined

Peter Van Inwagen

Hard determinist who said determinism leaves no open possibilities and it consigns humans to a predestined future. Gave thesis of universal causation= everything that happens is caused by prior events and laws of nature

Ivan Pavlov

Hard determinist who studied classical conditioning by experimenting on Dogs

How does determinism dissolve the agent of responsibility?

I could have never truly have done otherwise than what I actually do, so I cannot be both determined and free enough to be responsible

Irresistible Grace

I in TULIP, meaning that God's grace to save a person cannot be resisted

hard determinism

Implies that free will is not possible as our behaviour is always caused by internal or external events beyond our control.

What does Butler believe about moral correctness?

In any moral dilemma, we would know what is right or wrong , so no 'mistakes' can be made, but he does consider that we may commit self-deception and be 'blinded' to making the correct moral decisions

What is libertarianism?

In at least some of our decisions we are not determined (philosophers include Peter Van Inwagen, Robert Kane, CA Campbell)

CA Campbell

Libertarian who believes that humans do make free choices when we make a moral choice.

How does Butler describe the process of having a conscience?

More of a process of intuitive judgement that a rational reflection, distinction from being a direct instruction from God, we must make our own judgement

Preservation of the saints

P in Tulip, meaning that once someone is saved, they are always saved

What are the three main branches of conscience for Newman?

Principle of reflection, self-love benevolence, basic drives

What are the two approaches to justice?

Retributive-Punish criminals because they deserve to suffer Consequentialist-Punish people if it serves a useful purpose and has good consequences

How does St Paul use the bible to show that conflicts only happen between external authorities and one's conscience?

Romans 13:5, Paul wrote that following authorities was in itself 'a matter of conscience'

How does 6th century philosopher Boethius deal with the problem of God foreknowledge?

Since God is timeless, he doesn't know what we will do 'before' we do it because 'before' doesn't apply to God

John Locke

Soft determinist who argued that to be free, you must have a will and the ability to act according to your will.

How does Butler explain why conscience doesn't always guide us independently?

Sometimes its drowned out by passions, 'had it strength, as it has right; had it power, as it has manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world'

Robert Kane

The Libertarian who Provides an explanation for agent causation that is neither mysterious nor confused. The example of subatomic particles explains how some events can occur without a cause

'How can we think anyone freer than to have the power to do what he will?'

The Quote by John Locke summarising his idea of freedom

'If determinism is true, then our acts are the consequences of the laws of nature.'

The Quote by peter Van Inwagen summarising his idea of determinism

What is conscientia?

The act of applying moral precepts (primary and secondary) in concrete situations

Sovereignty of God

The attribute of God which means that he is supreme and in control.

What is compatibilism?

The belief that free will and determinism are compatible ideas, and that it is possible to believe both without being logically inconsistent (e.g Locke)

indeterminism

The belief that not all events are causally determined, but may result from human choice.

What is the intelligibility of libertarianism?

The difficulty of explaining how libertarian free will could work. It is difficult to see how an undetermined action could be free and responsible rather than simply random

constraint

The lack of a choice or a rational alternative according to A.J Ayer

What does synderesis mean?

The mind's innate, natural disposition to do good and avoid evil, our grasp of the primary precepts flows from this

AJ Ayer

The soft determinist who argued that you only have freedom if you can do otherwise, and that constraint is the opposite of freedom

What is theological determinism?

Theory that God determines every event in the world (including human actions)

What is Butler's view of conscience and God?

There is a clear divine intention behind the psychological phenomenon of conscience

What were Locke's views on determinism?

Thought all human actions were inevitable, but implied in some in some of his ideas on human nature, he seems to support the idea of free will (tabula rasa at birth)

What is Robert Kane's approach to free will?

To act freely we do not need to have genuine alternative possibilities every time we decide, you can act because of the person you are are circumstances and still be responsible (you make certain choices in these circumstances, e.g certain forks in the road, that are not determined)

'The Lord Hardened the heart of the Pharaoh.'

the Exodus quote suggesting predestination

Limited Atonement

the L in TULIP, meaning that Christ atoned the sins of humanity

'Even before they had been born, the elder shall serve the younger.'

the Romans quote by Paul suggesting the predestination of Isaac and Esau

Total depravity

the T in Tulip, meaning that Humans are dead without the sovereignty of God

Heisenberg uncertainty principle

the belief that it is impossible to know exactly both the velocity and the position of a particle at the same time

What does St Paul believe about predestination?

We are predestined to sin if we are not among those chosen for salvation and predestined to be righteous if among the chosen

How does Van Inwagen respond to the intelligibility problem of libertarianism?

At face neither determinism nor indeterminism seems compatible with free will, indeterminism offers randomness not freedom

How does Augustine talk about conscience in the Anti-Peligian?

-Augustine makes it clear no one can be righteous or saved without conscience - without it we can do no good -Church influences conscience and salvation -Baptism is a pre-requisite of salvation

What are the errors of the Pelagians according to Augustine?

-Denying original sin -Suggesting that God gives grace in response to human merit -Denial of human being's utter reliance on God's grace

What does Locke believe you must have to perform an action freely?

-Have a will (being able to think) -Be able to do X or not do X according to your will (i.e. you are able to carry out what you want to do)

What does AJ Ayer believe about freedom?

-No proof human action is determined (psychology is still young) -Logical positivist - Does a lack of determinism make us more free and responsible?

What are St Paul's view of damnation, salvation and inevitability?

-Since Adam's sin in the garden of Eden, all of us were seminally present (semen) -We inevitably sin, it is 'not of us sin' -'God only foresakes those who deserve to be foresaken' -We all deserve damnation for we are all sinners

What does David Hume believe about free will?

-Understands freedom in the same way as Locke -Human behaviour is essentially predictable because cause and effect apply here as the rest of the world

What was Darrow's determinism argument?

1) No action is free if its inevitable 2) All actions, like all events, are inevitable because they are necessitated by prior events 3)Therefore we are not morally responsible for our actions

Which groups are incompatibalist?

A hard determinist (accepting determinism and concluding that there is no free will) and a libertarian (rejecting determinism and believing a non-compatibilist kind of free will)

soft determinism

A version of determinism that allows for some element of free will.

How does Hume distinguish between predictability and determinism?

Admitting that human action is 'necessary' is not the same thing as seeing them as coerced somehow by the universe

What is the Augustine's view of conscience?

Innate, aided by God's grace and motivated by the love of God with the proviso that the conscience must operate through being informed e.g by Church rules

How does Aquinas explain conscience?

It can give you the 'wrong decisions' this doesn't mean you don't know what you're doing or you are acting against it

What is Augustine's view of conscience?

It is an inner awareness of right and wrong which can appeal to our moral life and comes from God, enables us to judge not only what we do but also our intentions

What does Macnamara believe about conscience as a faculty?

It requires practice, 'a genuine personal conscience is not presented to us by life as a gift...it has to be forged by the smithy of the individuals soul'

What does St Paul believe about conscience?

It seems innate, even those who don't have access to this revealed law have this capacity

What does Macnamara believe about how conscience is shaped?

It's shaped by one's environment (as per Piaget and Freud) but is an ongoing process of rational effort as with Aquinas, relies on innate moral abilities, but its different from the models of conscience as an innate moral guide

Unconditional Election

U in TULIP, meaning that God elects some people to eternal life, without looking for good in them

How does Butler describe conscience?

Unlike other impulses that tell you how to fulfil a need/desire, conscience tells you if the acts they urge you to do are acceptable (it is the 'principle in man, by which he approves or disapproves his heart, temper and actions')

How did Butler define benevolence?

Wanting the well-being of others (general impulse)

What is the responsibility argument for incompatibalism?

We assume we are free enough to be responsible for the consequences of our actions - the compatibilist argument is insufficient for responsibility ('ought implies can')

What does Aquinas believe about free will?

We need grace to be properly motivated to do what is right but we have the innate ability to perceive Natural Law through synderesis and our reason (Rom 2:14 is evidence of the innate aspect of conscience)

How does Piaget think we should act if conscience is not innate?

We should not always follow it when we're young, if its not innate than surely it less likely to be infallible

What is a criticism of Butler's idea of conscience?

Why should we see conscience as a proper guide when other impulses are natural too and may be stronger

How could determinism be compatible with responsibility?

You could be responsible even if you're determined because your actions come from who you are

Operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Classical conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

John Calvin

religious reformer who believed in predestination and the Sovereignty of God

behaviourism

school of psychology that focuses on uncovering the general laws of learning by looking at observable behaviour

How does Butler define prudence?

self-love, well-being of self or enlightened self interest but not selfishness (general impulse)

Scientific Determinism

the idea that everything in the universe happens due to scientific forces

Determinism

the philosophy that holds that every event, action, and decision results from something independent of the human will

libertarianism

the philosophy that holds that humans have freedom to make morally undetermined descisions

'What could be the cause of the will but the will itself?'

the quote by St Augustine describing human responsibility for their will

What is moral absolutism?

the view that there are some moral principles that are never permissible to violate.