(May 13, 2010 at 9:29 pm)fr0d0 Wrote:(May 12, 2010 at 4:58 pm)Caecilian Wrote: Personally, I'm a compatibilist re. free will/ determinism. This is the third philosophical option, libertarian free will and determinism being the other two. As the name suggests, compatibilists argue that there is no contradiction between free will and determinism.If you did X because of the influence of your personal history, then your will (personal choice) was not free but determined. You don't have free will but are a free agent to do as your influence dictates, given the ability to act upon it.
According to compatibilism, 'free will' is not about causation at all. Its about responsibility for and ownership of actions. If I say that I did X of my own free will, then what I'm saying is that my actions were due to me (my history, beliefs, desires etc), and were authentically mine. If I do X because someone is pointing a gun at my head, then I'm doing it because of external coercion, and not because of reasons that are mine- thus not of my own free will. By contrast, if I do X because I had a bad childhood (part of my personal history), then I am doing it of my own free will.
According to compatibilism, theres nothing contradictory between your actions being determined and your having free will. Your actions could be completely 100% determined by your personal history, and that wouldn't matter one iota whether your choices were freely chosen.
Free will simply isn't about what causes you to do things. Its about whether the decision that you made was yours or not.
He who desires to worship God must harbor no childish illusions about the matter but bravely renounce his liberty and humanity.
Mikhail Bakunin
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything
Friedrich Nietzsche
Mikhail Bakunin
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything
Friedrich Nietzsche
