Metaphysic:

Determinism and
Free will
Mostafa Kamal Mokhtar (PhD)
Faculty of Social Science and Humanities,
UKM Bangi
E-mail: mostafa@ukm.edu.my
Determinism

Determinism

Causal Logical Theological

Term (Kessler G E, 1992: 185)
 Determinism
 The belief that all events are caused; meaning any
given event is determined (caused) by some set of
antecedent events even if we are not fully aware of
what those antecedent events are (cause and effect)
 Fatalism
 The belief that some or all events are predetermined
by some impersonal cosmic force or power (law of
nature)
 Predestination
 The belief that some or all events are predetermined
by some personal power (god)
The problem of freedom &
determinism? Or the problem of free
will?
 If all events are caused, how can any
human actions be free?
 Are we free agents?
 Does God has no power to control human
being?
 Can determinism and free will come
together?
Causal Determinism
 The thesis that future events are necessitated
by past and present events combined with
the laws of nature. Such determinism is
sometimes illustrated by the thought
experiment of Laplace's demon. Imagine an
entity that knows all facts about the past and
the present, and knows all natural laws that
govern the universe. Such an entity might,
under certain circumstances, be able to use
this knowledge to foresee the future, down to
the smallest detail.
Causal Determinism
 In generative philosophy of cognitive sciences and
evolutionary psychology, free will is assumed not to exist.
However, an illusion of free will is created, within this
theoretical context, due to the generation of infinite or
computationally complex behavior from the interaction of a
finite set of rules and parameters. Thus, the unpredictability
of the emerging behavior from deterministic processes
leads to a perception of free will, even though free will as
an ontological entity is assumed not to exist. In this picture,
even if the behavior could be computed ahead of time, no
way of doing so will be simpler than just observing the
outcome of the brain's own computations (radical
behaviorism – B H Skinner; J B Watson)
Logical Determinism
 Logical determinism is the notion
that all propositions, whether about
the past, present or future, are either
true or false. The problem of free will,
in this context, is the problem of how
choices can be free, given that what
one does in the future is already
determined as true or false in the
present.
Logical Determinism
 Everyone believes himself a priori to be perfectly
free, even in his individual actions, and thinks that
at every moment he can commence another
manner of life... . But a posteriori, through
experience, he finds to his astonishment that he is
not free, but subjected to necessity, that in spite of
all his resolutions and reflections he does not
change his conduct, and that from the beginning of
his life to the end of it, he must carry out the very
character which he himself condemns
Theological Determinism
 The thesis that there is a God who
determines all that humans will do, either
by knowing their actions in advance, via
some form of omniscience or by decreeing
their actions in advance. The problem of
free will, in this context, is the problem of
how our actions can be free, if there is a
being who has determined them for us
ahead of time.
Theological determinism
 The theological doctrine of divine foreknowledge
is often alleged to be in conflict with free will.
After all, if God knows exactly what will happen,
right down to every choice one makes, the
status of choices as free is called into question.
If God had timelessly true knowledge about
one's choices, this would seem to constrain
one's freedom
Free will

Free Will

Religious Ethics Scientific

The principle of free will
 The principle of free will has religious, ethical,
and scientific implications.
 In the religious realm, free will may imply that an
omnipotent divinity does not assert its power over
individual will and choices.
 In ethics, it may imply that individuals can be held
morally accountable for their actions.
 In the scientific realm, it may imply that the actions of
the body, including the brain and the mind, are not
wholly determined by physical causality.
Compatibilism & Incompatilism
 Compatibilism is the view that accepts both the
existence of free will and the truth of determinism,
claiming that they are compatible with each other.
 Incompatibilism is the view that there is no way to
reconcile a belief in a deterministic universe with a belief
in free will. Hard determinism is the version of
incompatibilism that accepts the truth of determinism and
rejects the idea that humans have any free will. This
contrast to another incompatibilism (metaphysical
liberation) that reject the determinism and accept human
free will
Determinism vs. Free Will
Determinism & Free Will

Determinism & Free Will

Compatibilism,
Incompatibilism
Soft determinism

Metaphysical Liberation, Hard determinism,

Override
libertarianism Fatalism, predestination

Robotic Human Illusion free will

Expectation
Causa Sui
Compatibilism: ‘overide’
 Compatibilists (Thomas Hobbes, David Hume) point
to clear-cut cases of someone's free will being
denied, through rape, murder, theft, or other forms
of constraint. In these cases, free will is lacking not
because the past is causally determining the future,
but because the aggressor is overriding the victim's
desires and preferences about his own actions. The
aggressor is forcing the victim and, this is what
overrides free will. Thus, the determinism does not
matter here; what matters is that individuals' choices
are the results of their own desires and preferences,
and are not overridden by some external (or
internal) force.
Compatibilism: ‘expectation’
 In Elbow Room, Dennett presents an argument
for a compatibilist theory of free will, which he
further elaborated in the book Freedom Evolves.
The basic reasoning is that, the future is ill-
defined for all finite beings. The only well-
defined things are "expectations". The ability to
do "otherwise" only makes sense when dealing
with these expectations, and not with some
unknown and unknowable future. Since
individuals have the ability to act differently from
what anyone expects, free will can exist.
Incompatibilism (free will): ‘robot’
 The idea is simply that if man is determined in
his choices of actions, then he must be like other
mechanical things that are determined in their
behavior. That is, if man's behavior is causally
determined, then he is nothing more
sophisticated than a wind-up toy, a billiard ball, a
puppet, or a robot. Since these things have no
free will, then man must have no free will, if
determinism is true.
Free will or Determinism?
Incompatibilism (free will): ‘causa
sui’
 Free will means that man must be the "ultimate" or
"originating" cause of his actions. He must be a causa
sui, in the traditional phrase. To be responsible for one's
choices is to be the first cause of those choices, where
first cause means that there is no antecedent cause of
that cause. The argument, then, is that if man has free
will, then man is the ultimate cause of his actions. If
determinism is true, then all of man's choices are caused
by events and facts outside his control. So, if everything
man does is caused by events and facts outside his
control, then he cannot be the ultimate cause of his
actions.
Incompatibilism: Hard determinism; fatalism; predestination
Predestination?
reference
 Kessler, G.E. 1992. Voices of wisdom:
multi-cultural philosophy reader. California:
Wadsworth Publishing Company (p. 185-
213)
 http://buckleherry.wordpress.com/
 http://www.informationphilosopher.com/fre
edom/taxonomy.html