Day 8: Determinism and Free Will

•           Return and Discuss Test 2

•           Review/Questions

•           Background

•           On necessity and liberty

•           Objections and Replies

•           More Objections and Replies

•           For Day 9: Please read Treatise, Bk II, Part III, section III

Background

•           Why care about freedom of will?

•           What is determinism?

•           How are freedom and determinism related?

–      Libertarianism (a kind of incompatibilism)

–      Soft Determinism (a kind of compatibilism)

–      Hard Determinism (a kind of incompatibilism)

On Necessity and Liberty

•           For Hume, what is necessity?

•           According to Hume, is the will governed by necessity?  Why or why not?  What evidence does he give for his view?

•           For Hume, what is liberty?

–      Liberty in the Treatise

–      Liberty in the Enquiry

Objections and Replies

•           Why do people persist in believing that the will is not governed by necessity?

–      Liberty of spontaneity

–      Liberty of indifference

–      Morality, Law, and Religion

•           In each case, what is Hume’s reply?

More Objections and Replies

•          What about the mad man?

•          What does Hume think about character and responsibility?

•          What about quantum mechanics?

•          An example from Daniel Dennett

•          Some Libertarian approaches