Philosophy 101

Introduction to Philosophy

Spring 2005


More Arguments for Extraction, Explanation, and Evaluation


1. Those Hard Determinists would see that they were wrong if they just paid attention to human behavior. Consider George. This morning he had Rice Chex for breakfast. But yesterday morning, he had Cheerios for breakfast. Now there were no changes in what George could do between yesterday morning and this morning: he still had both Rice Chex and Cheerios in his cupboard, and he didn’t tear an arm muscle, or break a leg, or anything like that. So, clearly he could have eaten Cheerios this morning, instead of Rice Chex. So he could have done something this morning other than what he actually did. So clearly he acted freely when he ate Rice Chex this morning. End of story.


2. If only people would pay attention to what goes on in courts, they’d see that all this nonsense about free will and determinism is just that–nonsense. Just think about Judge Judy. She punishes people for doing wrong things. So they must be responsible for what they do, and so they must be acting freely when they do those bad things. Thank god Judy doesn’t get tangled up in this stuff about determinism!


3. Biologists and neurophysiologists have been examining the brain for years and years and years. They have yet to find a brain event that wasn’t caused by some prior event. The same goes for all the other events in our bodies. So anyone who thinks that there are events in our bodies that are agent-caused, and not event-caused, is full of hooey.


4. Larry has no control over the laws of nature. And he has no control over events that occurred thousands of years ago. But those laws and past events completely determine how he will act tomorrow. So he has no control over how he will act tomorrow. So, no matter what he does tomorrow, he won’t be acting freely.


5. There’s an easy proof that we have free will. All of us have, at one time or another, deliberated about our future actions. That is, each of us has (at some time or other) weighed options, thought about what option is best, and so on. But anyone who does this must think that he or she has a choice about what to do. So, everyone who’s ever deliberated thinks that he or she has a choice about what to do. But then, all such people think that they have free will. And if so many people think this, then it’s got to be true. QED.


6. Those Moderate Indeterminists are crazy. They say that people aren’t responsible when they clearly are! Just think about little Andy. He threw a water balloon at his sister Debbie. He wanted to get her wet, and he made a plan to do it long before he did it. He filled up his balloons, waited for her to walk by, and threw the balloon right at Debbie. So, obviously, his throwing the balloon was caused by a decision to throw the balloon, and his decision was caused by his beliefs and desires. So the Moderate Indeterminist would say that Andy isn’t morally responsible for throwing the balloon. I’m glad that his mother is not a Moderate Indeterminist.