Are we free?

Values, Self & Knowledge

Should we be held responsible?

Leopold & Loeb• 2 friends conspired to

execute the perfect crime

• Stabbed to death 14 year old Bobby Franks

• Showed no remorse• Caught due to a very

small mistake

‘Why did they kill little Bobby Franks? Not for money, not for spite; not for hate. They killed him as they might kill a spider or a fly, for the experience. They killed him because they were made that way.

Because somewhere in the infinite processes that go to the making up of the boy or the man something slipped, and those unfortunate lads sit here hated, despised, outcasts, with the community shouting for their blood.’

‘Is Dickey Loeb to blame because out of the infinite forces that conspired to form him, the infinite forces that were at work producing him ages before he was born, that because out of these infinite combinations he was born without it [i.e. a normal emotional system]?

If he is, then there should be a new definition for justice.’

Am I responsible for how I live?• How should external

reality affect how we live?

• Physical considerations• Moral considerations?

• How does external reality affect how we live?

• How much control do we have over how we live?

“The Lonely”

Imagine you are James Corry

Twilight Zone: “The Lonely”

1. Did Corry come to treat Alicia as more than a robot?

2. Why does Allenby think it would help to shoot Alicia?

How different are we from Alicia?

1. Every event that occurs has a cause

2. My action is an event3. Therefore, my action

has a causeAre we also robots, made of a slightly different material?

Determinism• At any time, there is only one way things

can be, given the preceding state of things and the laws of nature.

State of the

world @ T1

State of the

world @ T2

State of the

world @ T3

Laws of nature @ T1

Laws of nature @ T2

Laws of nature @ T3

Determinism & you• If determinism is

true, do we have freedom?

• Every of our actions is fully explained by the preceding state of the world, including the laws of nature.

Fatalism & determinismKey difference: Significance of personal

choiceI am fated to eat the poison pill iff

(i) I would eat the poison pill(ii) I am unable to avoid eating the poison pill no

matter what I choose to do

• Determinists can reject (ii). • In a deterministic world, you would be able

to avoid eating the poison pill if you chose to.

If, for a short time, each man was willing to examine his own peculiar actions, search out their true motives to discover their concatenation, he would remain convinced that the sentiment he has of his natural free agency, is a chimera that must speedily be destroyed by experience.”

D’Holbach

Objection

“My actions cannot all be determined since I sometimes deliberate about what to do!”

What about deliberation?D’Holbach:“…when the brain is simultaneously assailed by causes equally strong that move it in opposite directions, …it is neither capable to will nor to act; it waits until one of the two causes has obtained sufficient force to overpower the other; to determine its will; to attract it in such a manner that it may prevail over the efforts of the other cause.”

Why did you choose that?• Sometimes we

considered several options and chose a certain one

• What we chose is due to our strongest motive at the time of choice

Why our choices are completely determined1. I chose to X because my

strongest desire is to X.2. My strongest desire is to

X because of things beyond my control.

3. Therefore, I chose to X because of things beyond my control.

Your life story: Written long ago“Man’s life is a line that

nature commands him to describe upon the surface of the earth, without his ever being able to serve from it, even for an instant.

…he is unceasingly modified by causes, whether visible or concealed, over which he has no control, which necessarily regulate his mode of existence, give hue to his way of thinking, and determine his manner of acting.”

D’Holbach

birth

The anatomy of a robot

Capacities:

Memory, emotions, intelligence

Stimulus

Action

Program:

Responsive, adaptive,random element

Material:

Internal, external

Programmers

Genius inventor

Blind forces of nature

Program All your actions

I do not act freely if my action is wholly determined by events beyond my control. (Robot Principle)

Determinism = No freedom1. I do not act freely if my action

is wholly determined by events beyond my control. (Robot Principle)

2. My action is wholly determined by events beyond my control. (Determinism)

3. Therefore, I do not act freely.

Determinism = no freedom

• Incompatibilism: – Determinism is incompatible with

freedom

• Compatibilism– Determinism is compatible with freedom

The big pictureIs everything we do determined?

Is determinism compatible with freedom?

Is indeterminism compatible with freedom?

Yes No

Yes No Yes No

Compatibilism Incompatibilism

=Freedom =No freedom

=Freedom =No freedom

Responsibility• Kinds of responsibility

• Causal responsibility– Explains how the event occurred

• Legal responsibility– Held liable for legal action according to

the law• Moral responsibility

– ?

Sammi the simple• IQ of 20• Made to sit for

postgraduate exam

• Fails

Sammi the simpleSammi, your childhood friend, has an IQ of 20. One day, through no fault of hers, Sammi was made to sit for a postgraduate quantum physics exam. She failed it.

To what extent is Sammi responsible for failing the exam?

William the weak• Born with

physical condition– Physically unable to lift

more than 100kg• 300kg statue fell

on generator– 100 people will be hurt

unless he lifts it• Fails and 100 hurt

Principle of non-responsibility

A person is not morally responsible for some occurrence when it is not within her ability to prevent it.

Edward the evil• Born with

unknown condition– At age 21, he would be

unable to choose any action except what is evil

• At 21, he was alone with a child and killed her for fun

Principle of non-responsibility

A person is not morally responsible for some occurrence when it is not within her ability to prevent it.

CompareName Condition Stimulus Outcome Responsible

?Sammi Inability

to pass exam

Made to sit for exam

Fails exam

William Inability to lift statue

Has to lift statue to prevent harm

Fails to prevent harm

Edward Inability to choose anything but evil

Finds himself alone with child

Does evil

Compare

Name Condition Stimulus Outcome Responsible?

You

We are not morally responsible for how we live since we cannot avoid what we do.

How different are we from Alicia?

If we are merely robots, are we treating each other appropriately?

Am I responsible for how I live?

Why some robots are free

Why we are completely programmed

1. I chose to X because my strongest desire is to X.

2. My strongest desire is to X because of things beyond my control.

3. Therefore, I chose to X because of things beyond my control.

Determinism = No freedom1. My action is wholly determined

by events beyond my control. (Determinism)

2. If my action is wholly determined by events beyond my control, then I do not act freely. (Robot Principle)

3. Therefore, I do not act freely.

The mysterious catEvery Friday at 3am, this cat appears just outside the SIM library. Then it disappears at 3.42am.

There is no explanation for its appearance and disappearance.

Indeterminism• An event occurs

indeterministically iff it has no cause

• The preceding state of things and the laws of nature do not sufficiently explain the current state of things

Is indeterminism possible?

How could an event occur without a cause???

State of the

world at T2

State of the

world at T1

State of the

world at T2

• Indeterministic events seem entirely random

• If your action is indeterministic, it seems you likewise lack control over it

Deterministic world Indeterministic world

Freedom is impossibleAction

Determined

Not determined

Fixed by external causes

Random

Beyond our control

A misunderstanding?“the problem is not a real one…and is due to nothing but a confusion about the meanings of words”

Stace

“There are no humans”

• “Humans” = “5-legged animals”

• Mistaken definition

“Definitions can be wrong”• “Common usage is

the criterion for deciding whether a definition is correct or not.”

• “Freedom” is a label for a kind of ability

Jones: I once went without food for a week.

Smith: Did you do that of your own free will?

Jones: No. I did it because I was lost in a desert and could find no food.

Gandhi: I once fasted for a week.

Smith: Did you do that of your own free will?

Gandhi: Yes, I did it because I wanted to compel the British Government to give India its independence.

Criterion of free action?(1)The person chose to perform

the action

(2)The person could have chosen otherwise if she had wanted to

Judge: Did you sign this confession of your own free will?Prisoner: No. I signed it because the police beat me up.

Jury: The prisoner says he signed the confession because he was beaten, and not of his own free will.

Philosopher: It makes no difference. In both cases, his signing is causally determined by events beyond his control. So he cannot have signed it freely.

Moral of the stories:

‘Freedom is compatible with determinism’

God and evilGod

EvilEvilEvil Good GoodGood

The problem of moral evil

“By giving us free will, it is only natural that this kind of evil exists. One cannot claim that in a perfect world, God should have prevented it – that would constitute the removal of our free will.”

Mere toys?“Perhaps the sole reason for the creation of Man was for Man to commune with God, out of their own will…

After all, if he created Man to accept him, it’d be akin to having a tea-party with my toys; where’s the joy in that?”

Why God is fairHell-resident: God, you are unfair as you are

punishing me for what you programmed me to do.

God: I programmed you but still, you freely chose to do all you did.

Hell-resident: ???God: You chose to sin and could have

chosen to not sin if you wanted to not sin. This shows you freely chose to sin, and punishing you is therefore fair.

“A play of words!”“He could have chosen otherwise if he wanted to”This is true but irrelevant.If determinism is true, he was unable to want to choose otherwise.

Principle of Alternate

PossibilitiesA person acts freely if and only if (i) she chose to perform the action, &(ii)she could have chosen otherwise

Agent Black

JonesSmith

Black

Jones resolves to shoot Smith

Black plants a device into Jones. If Jones wavers, Black will ignite the device which will certainly cause Jones to shoot Smith. Jones never wavers and shoots Smith. Did Jones freely shoot Smith?Note: Jones could not have chosen to do otherwise

Jones & Black Jones has resolved to shoot Smith. Black has learned of Jones's plan and wants Jones to shoot Smith. But Black would prefer that Jones shoot Smith on his own. However, concerned that Jones might waver in his resolve to shoot Smith, Black secretly arranges things so that, if Jones should show any sign at all that he will not shoot Smith (something Black has the resources to detect), Black will be able to manipulate Jones in such a way that Jones will shoot Smith. As things transpire, Jones follows through with his plans and shoots Smith for his own reasons. No one else in any way threatened or coerced Jones, offered Jones a bribe, or even suggested that he shoot Smith. Jones shot Smith under his own steam. Black never intervened.

From Harry Frankfurt

Suggestion• To navigate around the maze of many

different views on freedom, think about these few central issues and you’ll be better able to narrow down which view seems best to you.

1. Is freedom compatible with determinism and/or indeterminism?

2. Is determinism or indeterminism true?Question 1 is about what freedom is. Question 2 is about what reality is like.