Section 3.2The Mother of Invention
Freedom as Necessity
The Dilemma of Determinism and Indeterminism
• If causal determinism is true, then we cannot act freely because everything we do is caused by forces beyond our control.
• If causal indeterminism is true, then again we cannot act freely because what we do is not up to us.
Soft Determinism and Compatibilism
• Soft determinists believe that causal determinism is compatible with free will.
• In this view, one’s actions can be determined and free.
Principle of Alternative Possibilities
• The Principle of Alternative Possibilities says that one can be held responsible for doing something only if one could have done otherwise.
• The different paths in this “garden of forking paths” represent the different courses of action that you can take at a particular point in time.
The Conditional Analysis of “could have done otherwise”
• Traditional compatibilists offer a conditional analysis of "could have done otherwise:" you could have done otherwise just in case if you had chosen to do otherwise, you would have done otherwise.
Traditional Compatibilism
• Traditional compatibilism is the doctrine that free actions are (1) caused by one’s will and (2) not externally constrained.
• Traditional compatibilists define freedom negatively; freedom consists in the absence of external constraint or coercion.
Thought Experiment: Locke’s Trapped Conversationalist
• “Suppose a man is carried, while fast asleep, into a room, where there is a person he longs to see and speak with; and suppose he is locked in the room…”
• Even though the man doesn’t want to leave, he is not free to leave, for he couldn’t leave if he wanted to.
Thought Experiment: Taylor’s Ingenious Physiologist
• “Suppose…that while my behavior is entirely in accordance with my own volitions…my volitions themselves are caused [by an ingenious neurophysiologist].
• Even though Taylor’s actions meets the conditions of traditional compatibilism, his actions are not free.
Thought Probe: Brain Simulation
• Devices that monitor brain function and stimulate the brain to modify behavior could be implanted in people.
• Should we implant such devices? Why or why not?
Thought Experiment: Taylor’s Drug Addiction
• Suppose one is given a compulsive desire for a drug.
• The drug addict’s subsequent behavior would fulfill both conditions of traditional compatibilism.
• Nevertheless, it would not be free.
Thought Probe: Brainwashing
• Suppose that someone were brainwashed into acquiring a whole new set of desires and beliefs and subsequently acted on them.
• According to traditional compatibilism, would his actions be free?
Thought Experiment: Frankfurt’s Decision Inducer
• In this thought experiment, Frankfurt challenges the principle of alternative possibilities.
• Suppose that Black monitors Jones’s behavior and is prepared to alter it if Jones doesn’t behave as Black wants him to.
• Black insures that Jones couldn’t do otherwise than he does.
• Does Jones act freely?
First-order Desires
• A first-order desire is a desire directed on an object or a state of affairs.
• Desires for food, clothing, and shelter as well as conditions like being healthy, well-informed, and well-paid are first-order desires.
Second-order Desires
• A second-order desire is a desire directed on a desire.
• A desire not to desire to smoke is a second-order desire.
Second-order Volitions
• A second-order volition is a second order desire on which one wants to act.
Hierarchical Compatibilism
• According to Frankfurt, free actions are caused by second-order volitions that one decisively identifies with.
• This view is known as hierarchical compatibilism because it is based on the belief that there is a hierarchy of desires and volitions.
Thought Experiment: Frankfurt’s Unwilling and Wanton Addicts
• Consider two addicts: the unwilling addict desires that he not have the desire to take drugs and the wanton addict has never questioned his desire to take drugs.
• According to Frankfurt, neither act freely.
Thought Experiment: Frankfurt’s Happy Addict
• Consider an addict who has reflected on his addiction and has decided that he likes being addicted to drugs.
• According to Frankfurt, this addict acts freely because he is acting on a second order volition.
Thought Experiment: Slote’s Hypnotized Patient
• Suppose that someone had a second-order volition implanted in him by a hypnotist.
• In that case, acting on a second-order volition would not make the act free.
Ultimate Responsibility
• Our actions flow from our character and motives.
• According to Robert Kane, if we did not have a hand in shaping our character and motives, we are not ultimately responsible for the actions that flow from them.
Thought Probe: The Willing Bank Teller
• Suppose that you are a bank teller and are held up at gun point. You decide that heroics are out of the question and hand over the money.
• According to Frankfurt, do you act freely? Why or why not?