Free Will
and
Fixed Futures
Jim Fahey
Department of Cognitive Science
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
September 27, 2007
Fatalism
• “Cartoon” Fatalism: Appointment in Samara
• The Problem and How to Fix it:
If the events “in between” fated events are
“metaphysically open,” then it is possible that an
event occurs that gets in the way of a “fated”
event.
• To Fix This we must in some way constrain the
events that are “in between” fated events.
Fatalism (cont.)
• A “non-crazy” form of fatalism (one traditional
way of fixing “cartoon fatalism”):
• Aristotelian Fatalism: The Problem of
“Tomorrow’s Sea Fight” in light of the Law of the
Excluded Middle -- P v ~P
(p1 v ~p1)
(p2 v ~p2)
(p3 v ~p3)
.
.
Instances of the
Law of Excluded Middle
Aristotelian Fatalism (cont.)
• If we consider the collection of all of the TRUE
PROPOSITIONS, Aristotle worries that they will
amount to a comprehensive map of the World –
past, present and future.
• And if this is the case, then it seems that no one
can ever do otherwise than what it is already true
that they will do!
• Aristotle worries that from this it follows that such
things as deliberation, rational action and moral
responsibility DO NOT EXIST.
Aristotelian Fatalism (cont.)
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Aristotelian Fatalism (cont.)
• Responses to Aristotle’s Worry:
• “Head in the Sand” response: since we don’t
(can’t) know the future, there is nothing to worry
about. – But Aristotle’s worry is a metaphysical
one; our epistemic shortcomings are not a factor.
• “We Make the Future” response: More defensible
is the view that the future is FIXED in the way
that it is because I make it happen in just that
way.
God’s Foreknowledge and
Human Free Will
• On another level, the God of the Western religious
tradition is OMNISCIENT.
• But if God knows what I will do in the future, it
seems that I cannot do otherwise than what God
knows I will do. And if I CANNOT DO
OTHERWISE than what God knows I will do,
how can God hold me legitimately morally
responsible for what I cannot help but do?
God’s Foreknowledge and
Human Free Will (cont.)
• Augustine’s Two classic responses:
• 1. Willings by their nature must be free.
(since unfree willings would be “willings
against one’s will,” which is absurd)
• 2. From the mere fact that God knows what I
will choose, it does not follow that God makes
me choose in just that way.
Minority Report
• However it does follow from the traditional Western View
of God and also, I think, Minority Report that the
knowledge claimed on the part of both God and the
precognizers is NOT mere inductive/abductive knowledge.
That is, in neither case is the knowledge mere fallible
prediction.
• As I see it, if either God or Agatha know that I will do
future event F, then it is inevitable that I do F. and this
entails that I will do F, regardless of what other events
logically compatible with F might occur.
Minority Report (cont.)
• More particularly, for Agatha,
• If person S experiences precognition P of future
event F, then
F inevitably occurs and either
(i) F backwardly causes P, or
(ii) whatever causes F inevitably to occur, also
causes P to occur.
• But if this is the correct view about precognition,
then the view that a precognized event can be
prevented is FALSE.
God and Minority Report
• Does an analogous claim hold for God’s
Foreknowledge?
• The standard claim is that IT DOES NOT since
God is an eternal Being who exists outside of
space & time. Hence, in truth, God has no
foreknowledge since, for God, everything is a kind
of timeless, tenseless, present moment.
• However, many argue that if God has certainty
(certain knowledge) about what for me are future
events, then these events are inevitable and hence
unfree.
Determinism: A Prelude
• The “Covering Law” model of explanation.
• All A’s are B’sA: instances of water at A1
sea level pressure under ----------------0 degrees Celsius
• B1
B: instances of water
freezing
Causation, Determinism and Free
Will
• UNIVERSAL CAUSAL DETERMINISM
• (Covering Law Model on steroids)
•
•
•
•
ALL LAWS OF NATURE.
INITIAL CONDITIONS (at some point in time)
--------------------------------EVERY EVENT
Causal Determinism
Determinism and Moral
Responsibility
• TWO STATEMENTS:
• (1) Determinism is true.
• (2) Persons perform free, rational actions
for which they can be correctly held morally
responsible.
Determinism and Moral
Responsibility
•
•
HARD DETERMINISM
(1),
~(2)
•
•
FREE WILLISM
~(1),
(2)
•
•
SOFT DETERMINISM
(1),
(2)
Determinism and Moral
Responsibility (cont.)
• COMPATIBILISM
• LOG. POS. ( (1) & (2) )
• (Soft Determinists are Compatibilists but
Compatibilists need not be Soft Determinists)
• INCOMPATIBILISM
• ~ LOG. POS. ( (1) & (2) )
• (Typically, Free Willists and Hard Determinists are
Incompatibilists.)
Determinism and Moral
Responsibility (cont.)
• The Free Action Principle, a principle about
which every one seems to agree:
• If (person) S performs free action A, then
S could have done otherwise.
• Soft Determinist interpretation: “S could have
done otherwise if S had chosen to do otherwise.”
• Free Willist (and Hard Determinist) interpretation:
“S could have done otherwise under exactly similar
circumstances.”
Mechanism & the Big Bang
• But suppose Determinism is FALSE since
Laws of Nature are NOT universal
generalizations but merely statistical
generalizations. Nevertheless, if every
event unfolds in accord with statistical laws
stating the world’s statistical ways of
working, we might say that mechanism is
the case.
Mechanism & the Big Bang
• CAUSAL MECHANISM
•
•
•
•
ALL (STATISTICAL) LAWS OF NATURE.
INITIAL CONDITIONS (at some point in time)
--------------------------------LIKLIHOOD OF EVERY EVENT
Mechanism & the Big Bang
• TWO STATEMENTS:
• (1) Mechanism is true.
• (2) Persons perform free, rational actions
for which they can be correctly held morally
responsible.
Mechanism & the Big Bang
• QUESTION:
• Are (1) and (2) “COMPATIBLE?”
Mechanism & the Big Bang
• Suppose the “Big Bang” happened in the
“standard manner.” That is, suppose that all of
space & time (spacetime) came into existence “all
at once” as a universe of 4 (or more) dimensions.
• QUESTION:
• Since every event is FIXED throughout the history
of the universe, ARE FREE ACTIONS
POSSIBLE IN SUCH A UNIVERSE?
Aristotle’s Worry Revisited
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