Philosophy

Compatibilism is the theory that having free will is compatible with all of our actions being caused. Thus, to deny this is to be an incompatibilist, freedom is not compatible with causal determinism. The problem, as we have seen, is that by denying causal determinism we seem to be in the position of claiming that our actions are uncaused, and thus random.

However, there is a theory which presents us with a way to deny causal determinism and still not fall into Indeterminism, Libertarianism. The Libertarian claims that there are two significantly different forms of causation, event-causation and agent-causation. The key to understanding how we are free is to understand that our actions are the result of agent-causation and not event-causation. The libertarian claims that all actions and events are caused, but that free will is only taken away if everything were the result of event-causation. As a fact, our actions are not the result of event-causation, but of agent-causation. Thus, our actions are the result of our free will. Remember our argument:

1. Every event has a cause (this is “causal determinism”).

2. Our behaviors are events.

3. Thus, our behaviors have a cause.

Libertarians deny step 2. Our behaviors are not like other events, they are caused in a different way. Think about how we act (when we think we are free):

As I stand here in front of you, I can DECIDE to raise my hand, put it into my pocket, scratch my head, or any of a number of things. When we say, “I decided to raise my hand” to explain this behavior, we do not mean the same thing as we mean when we say, “Gravity caused the chalk to fall when I dropped it.” For one, my action was the result of an intention. Remember that for property dualists, intentionality is a primitive property (meaning one cannot reduce the phenomenon to a physical property or state).

Among the issues brought up is that maybe it is a logical impossibility to create a sentient being without free will........do you think this is true? Why?