Philsosophy question?>?

Question

Why do some philosophers think that determinism is incompatible with free will. Why do other think it is necessary for moral responsibility?

Answer 1

The way 'free will' is usually described is that when a situation arises with multiple outcomes, you can choose freely from among them. Or to put it another way, the outcome was not assured from the beginning and could have happened differently if you had chosen to make it so.

For the strictest of determinists, however, there is always only one outcome. Choices that change outcomes cannot exist. They explain away the fact that many of us feel that we can change the course of events as simply an illusion, because all the underlying decision-making machinery is just as determined as everything else.

The idea of responsibility muddies the waters further.

Some argue that it is ridiculous to hold someone responsible for their choices unless they have free will to make those choices. If the outcome is assured then anything that happens was the fault of the universe at the moment of creation.

On the other hand, unless SOME things are determined, then nobody has any basis on which to make choices. Unless effect follows cause predictably, again nobody can be held responsible for any particular effect because there would be no way to forsee it. Things would just happen with no particular connection.

Answer 2

Determinism says that everything that happens is caused by what came before, and that once the universe has been set in motion, the rest is just it playing itself out, like dominoes falling. If that's true, then free will is an illusion. It would mean that what seems like my choices were forced by the configuration of elements of my brain immediately before I made a decision, that the decision was unavoidable and preordained.

You can see why nobody could be held accountable for their choices if choice is an illusion, so nobody could be held morally responsible for that apparent choice either.

Strict determinism does not allow for real choice, and lack of choice means lack of responsibility for ones apparent choices.

Answer 3

The real paradox of free will/determinism is that free will can exist only in a determined universe. In order to exercise our free will, our actions must have the potential to effect the outcome of events. Our actions cannot effect an event outcome unless there is a cause-effect relationship. Cause-effect is determinism.

Answer 4

Morality is up to personal interpretation... free will does not exhist.. when you finish fullfilling your purpose you expire and the inside part of you returns to infinity like a raindrop wich falls into the ocean.

Answer 5

its incompatible because it means people don't have free will their life is already set and they can make a diffrence