What is the Nature of Free Will?

1. What is the Nature of Free Will? PHIL 101 – Fall 2009 Instructor: Dan G. Jenkins TA: Paul J. Kelly

2. Objectives of Presentation • Understand the two different notions of free will. • Know the different positions in the free will debate, and be able to describe why people adopt them.

3. Measuring Intuitions #1 Imagine that in the next century we discover all the laws of nature, and we build a supercomputer which can deduce from these laws of nature and from the current state of everything in the world exactly what will be happening in the world at any future time. It can look at everything about the way the world is and predict everything about how it will be with 100% accuracy. Suppose that such a supercomputer existed, and it looks at the state of the universe at a certain time on March 25th, 2150 A.D., twenty years before Jeremy Hall is born. The computer then deduces from this information and the laws of nature that Jeremy will definitely rob Fidelity Bank at 6:00 PM on January 26th, 2195. As always, the supercomputer’s prediction is correct; Jeremy robs Fidelity Bank at 6:00 PM on January 26th, 2195. Do you think that, when Jeremy robs the bank, he acts of his own free will?

4. Measuring Intuitions #2 Imagine that in the next century we discover all the laws of nature, and we build a supercomputer which can deduce from these laws of nature and from the current state of everything in the world exactly what will be happening in the world at any future time. It can look at everything about the way the world is and predict everything about how it will be with 100% accuracy. Suppose that such a supercomputer existed, and it looks at the state of the universe at a certain time on March 25th, 2150 A.D., twenty years before Jeremy Hall is born. The computer then deduces from this information and the laws of nature that Jeremy will definitely save a child from a burning building at 6:00 PM on January 26th, 2195. As always, the supercomputer’s prediction is correct; Jeremy saves the child at 6:00 PM on January 26th, 2195. Do you think that, when Jeremy saves the child, he acts of his own free will?

5. Measuring Intuitions #3 Imagine that in the next century we discover all the laws of nature, and we build a supercomputer which can deduce from these laws of nature and from the current state of everything in the world exactly what will be happening in the world at any future time. It can look at everything about the way the world is and predict everything about how it will be with 100% accuracy. Suppose that such a supercomputer existed, and it looks at the state of the universe at a certain time on March 25th, 2150 A.D., twenty years before Jeremy Hall is born. The computer then deduces from this information and the laws of nature that Jeremy will definitely go for a jog at 6:00 PM on January 26th, 2195. As always, the supercomputer’s prediction is correct; Jeremy goes for a jog at 6:00 PM on January 26th, 2195. Do you think that, when Jeremy goes for a jog, he acts of his own free will?

14. J.L. Austin’s Putt “Consider the case where I miss a very short putt and kick myself because I could have holed it. It is not that I should have holed it if I had tried: I did try, and missed. It is not that I should have holed it if conditions had been different: that might of course be so, but I am talking about conditions as they precisely were,and asserting that I could have holed it. There is the rub.” - J.L. Austin, 1961

15. Interpreting Austin’s Putt • Could Austin really have made the putt in conditions precisely as they were? • When we imagine him making the putt, are we really imagining the situation exactly the same, or just one very similar? • What would need to be different for him to make the putt?

16. Laplace’s Demon “An intellect which at any given moment knew all the forces that animate Nature and the mutual positions of the beings that comprise it, if this intellect were vast enough to submit its data to analysis, it could condense into a single formula the movement of the greatest bodies of the universe and that of the lightest atom: for such an intellect nothing could be uncertain; and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes.” - Pierre Simon Laplace, 1814

17. Interpreting Laplace’s Demon • Is such a being conceivable, and if so, does that mean free will cannot exist? • Could this demon predict the behavior of all living things (including humans)? • At any given instant how many physically possible futures are there?

18. Neuroscience and Free Will Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNUPNhf0CbU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jc8URRxPIg

19. Two Main Questions • Is determinism true? • Does free will exist?

20. Important Terms • Determinism: There is at any instant exactly one physically possible future. • Incompatibilism: Free will is logically incompatible with determinism. • Compatibilism: Free will is logically compatible with determinism. • Libertarianism: Determinism is false, and free will exists. • Hard Determinism: Determinism is true, and free will does not exist.

21. Two Notions of Free Will • Libertarian Free Will • The ability to have done otherwise. • Compatibilist Free Will • The ability to act according to the determinations of the will.

22. Libertarian Free Will • Libertarian free will requires the individual to be able to take more than one possible course of action under a given set of physical circumstances. • This is only possible if: • A non-physical mind overrides physical causality • There are physical processes that are non-deterministic

23. Libertarian Free Will “Each of us, when we act, is a prime mover unmoved. In doing what we do, we cause certain events to happen, and nothing – or no one – causes us to cause those events to happen.” - Roderick Chisholm, 1964

24. Compatibilist Free Will • Free will is defined as the mental deliberation leading up to an action, and is therefore compatible with determinism. • We have evolved to be able to create an internal model of possible outcomes, weigh the cost and benefit of each behavior, and select the best one available given the information that we have.

25. Compatibilist Free Will “Every finite information-user has an epistemic horizon; it knows less than everything about the world it inhabits, and this unavoidable ignorance guarantees that it has a subjectively open future. Suspense is a necessary condition of life for any such agent.” - Daniel Dennett, 2003

26. Which Definition is Right? • The incompatibilist claims that indeterminism is a necessary condition for free will; the compatibilist rejects this. • The compatibilist claims that if we can explain decision making and avoidance behaviors in complex biological creatures like ourselves, then we can still meaningfully talk about free will. • The incompatibilist disagrees, claiming that such a notion of free will is a poor substitute not worth calling “free will.”

27. Objections to Libertarianism • Causal Argument • Argument from Moral Character

28. Causal Argument • The physical universe obeys quantifiable causal laws. • If libertarian free will did exist, it would be radically different than anything else in the known universe. • Furthermore, at what point did this ability to suspend (or violate) the laws of physics arise? • Do amebas have this ability? Flies? Dogs? Apes?

29. Argument from Moral Character “If a ‘free’ act be a sheer novelty, that comes not from me, the previous me, but ex nihilo [out of nothing], and simply tacks itself on to me, how can I, the previous I, be responsible? How can I have any permanent character that will stand still long enough for praise or blame to be awarded?” - William James, 1907

30. Argument from Moral Character “We cannot surely mean that actions have so little connection with motives, inclinations, and circumstances, that one does not follow with a certain degree of uniformity from the other… Actions are, by their very nature, temporary and perishing; and where they proceed not from some cause in the character and disposition of the person who performed them, they can neither redound to his honor, if good; nor infamy, if evil.” - David Hume, 1737

31. Argument from Moral Character • The libertarian definition of free will appears to deny the apparent causal connection between an agent’s action and his beliefs, desires, motives, moral inclinations, and specific circumstances. • We often speak of someone being “determined” to do the right thing, and see it as praiseworthy. • We respect those who foster a virtuous character over time through a series of good actions, and, as a result, become inclined towards moral behavior. • Contrary to this, libertarianism argues that each decision is completely devoid of context and completely disconnected from what we normally think causes moral behavior.

32. Objections to Compatibilism • Introspection • Undercuts Human Dignity

33. Introspection “We are always ready to take refuge in a belief in determinism if this freedom weighs upon us or if we need an excuse. Thus we flee from anguish by attempting to apprehend ourselves from without… as a thing. What we are accustomed to call a revelation of the inner sense or an original intuition of our freedom contains nothing [but]… the veritable ‘immediate given’ of our freedom.” - Jean-Paul Sartre, 1943

34. Introspection • It seems intuitive, empirically evident, and just plain obvious that the laws of physics do not determine my actions, and that I have libertarian free will. • Determinism is contrary to how I experience the world, and therefore must be false. • Objections: • It would appear that way even if it wasn’t. • Arguments grounded on intuitions are extremely weak. • Whether or not determinism is true is an empirical question that cannot be answered through introspection alone.

35. Destroys Human Dignity “Without free will, we seem diminished, merely the playthings of external forces. How, then, can we maintain an exalted view of ourselves? Determinism seems to undercut human dignity, it seems to undermine our value.” - Robert Nozick, 1981

36. Destroys Human Dignity • Humans are unique in that we have libertarian free will. • Denying this makes us subject to the same causal forces that drive the rest of the natural world. • Objections: • This is an Appeal to Consequences (a logical fallacy) • Very similar to objections to evolution and Heliocentrism. • Also, compatibilism can still maintain the uniqueness of humans, but for other reasons.

37. Summary / Conclusions • Libertarianism is conceptual confused and contrary to what science tells us about the natural world. • Compatibilism is counter-intuitive and threatens the absolute sense of uniqueness that many believe humanity possesses.