PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy: Free Will and Determinism 3

Question 1

Susan Wolf's 'Reason View' of free will holds that free will requires the ability to act in accordance with which of the following?

Accepted Answer

Reason, understood as the ability to act on what is truly good

Answer

Wolf argues that freedom is the ability to act in accordance with Reason—to recognize and respond to what is truly good—which is asymmetric: only doing wrong requires the ability to do otherwise.

Question 2

Logical determinism, distinct from causal determinism, is the view that future contingent statements are already true or false. Which ancient puzzle exemplifies this threat to free will?

Accepted Answer

The sea battle argument from Aristotle's De Interpretatione

Answer

Aristotle's sea battle argument questions whether statements about tomorrow's naval battle are already true or false, raising the threat that the future is logically fixed.

Question 3

What is 'semi-compatibilism' as proposed by John Martin Fischer?

Accepted Answer

Moral responsibility is compatible with determinism even if free will is not

Answer

Fischer's semi-compatibilism holds that moral responsibility is compatible with determinism regardless of whether free will itself is, separating the two concepts.

Question 4

The 'Mind Argument' against compatibilism claims that if determinism is false and actions are random, free will is still absent. What does this argument suggest about libertarian free will?

Accepted Answer

Indeterminism merely replaces one problem (determinism) with another (luck)

Answer

The Mind Argument (or 'luck objection') holds that indeterminist events in the causal chain of action are just lucky, not freely chosen, posing a dilemma for libertarians.

Question 5

Galen Strawson's 'Basic Argument' concludes that true moral responsibility is impossible. Which step is central to his reasoning?

Accepted Answer

To be truly responsible for your actions you must be responsible for the mental states that cause them, leading to infinite regress

Answer

Galen Strawson argues that since you cannot be ultimately responsible for your character without an impossible infinite regress, true moral responsibility is incoherent.

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Practice Test

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Practice Test

PhB Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy: Free Will and Determinism 3