Section 3.2
The Mother of Invention
Freedom as Necessity
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The Dilemma of Determinism and
Indeterminism
• If causal determinism is true, then we cannot
act freely because everything we do is caused
by forces beyond our control.
• If causal indeterminism is true, then again we
cannot act freely because what we do is not
up to us.
2
Soft Determinism and Compatibilism
• Soft determinists believe that causal
determinism is compatible with free will.
• In this view, one’s actions can be determined
and free.
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Principle of Alternative Possibilities
• The Principle of Alternative Possibilities says that
one can be held responsible for doing something
only if one could have done otherwise.
• The different paths in this “garden of forking paths”
represent the different courses of action that you
can take at a particular point in time.
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The Conditional Analysis of “could
have done otherwise”
• Traditional compatibilists offer a conditional
analysis of "could have done otherwise:" you
could have done otherwise just in case if you
had chosen to do otherwise, you would have
done otherwise.
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Traditional Compatibilism
• Traditional compatibilism is the doctrine that
free actions are (1) caused by one’s will and
(2) not externally constrained.
• Traditional compatibilists define freedom
negatively; freedom consists in the absence of
external constraint or coercion.
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Thought Experiment: Locke’s
Trapped Conversationalist
• “Suppose a man is carried, while fast asleep,
into a room, where there is a person he longs
to see and speak with; and suppose he is
locked in the room…”
• Even though the man doesn’t want to leave,
he is not free to leave, for he couldn’t leave if
he wanted to.
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Thought Experiment: Taylor’s
Ingenious Physiologist
• “Suppose…that while my
behavior is entirely in
accordance with my own
volitions…my volitions
themselves are caused [by
an ingenious
neurophysiologist].
• Even though Taylor’s actions
meets the conditions of
traditional compatibilism,
his actions are not free.
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Thought Experiment: Taylor’s Drug
Addiction
• Suppose one is given a compulsive desire for a
drug.
• The drug addict’s subsequent behavior would
fulfill both conditions of traditional
compatibilism.
• Nevertheless, it would not be free.
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Thought Probe: Brainwashing
• Suppose that someone were brainwashed
into acquiring a whole new set of desires
and beliefs and subsequently acted on
them.
• According to traditional compatibilism,
would his actions be free?
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Thought Experiment: Frankfurt’s
Decision Inducer
• In this thought experiment, Frankfurt
challenges the principle of alternative
possibilities.
• Suppose that Black monitors Jones’s behavior
and is prepared to alter it if Jones doesn’t
behave as Black wants him to.
• Black insures that Jones couldn’t do otherwise
than he does.
• Does Jones act freely?
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First-order Desires
• A first-order desire is a desire directed on an
object or a state of affairs.
• Desires for food, clothing, and shelter as well
as conditions like being healthy, wellinformed, and well-paid are first-order desires.
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Second-order Desires
• A second-order desire is a desire directed on a
desire.
• A desire not to desire to smoke is a secondorder desire.
13
Second-order Volitions
• A second-order volition is a second order
desire on which one wants to act.
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Hierarchical Compatibilism
• According to Frankfurt, free actions are caused
by second-order volitions that one decisively
identifies with.
• This view is known as hierarchical
compatibilism because it is based on the belief
that there is a hierarchy of desires and
volitions.
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Thought Experiment: Frankfurt’s
Unwilling and Wanton Addicts
• Consider two addicts:
the unwilling addict
desires that he not
have the desire to take
drugs and the wanton
addict has never
questioned his desire
to take drugs.
• According to Frankfurt,
neither act freely.
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Thought Experiment: Frankfurt’s
Happy Addict
• Consider an addict who has reflected on his
addiction and has decided that he likes being
addicted to drugs.
• According to Frankfurt, this addict acts freely
because he is acting on a second order
volition.
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Thought Experiment: Slote’s
Hypnotized Patient
• Suppose that someone had a second-order
volition implanted in him by a hypnotist.
• In that case, acting on a second-order volition
would not make the act free.
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Ultimate Responsibility
• Our actions flow from our character and
motives.
• According to Robert Kane, if we did not have a
hand in shaping our character and motives,
we are not ultimately responsible for the
actions that flow from them.
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Thought Probe: The Willing Bank
Teller
• Suppose that you are a bank teller and are
held up at gun point. You decide that heroics
are out of the question and hand over the
money.
• According to Frankfurt, do you act freely? Why
or why not?
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