Exam 7: Freedom

Write an essay on the problem of free will and determinism. Your essay should clarify what the problem is and discuss various solutions to the problem: determinism (including the argument for determinism); indeterminism, compatibilism, and soft determinism (both forms); and both Kant's and Sartre's views on freedom.   Focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each approach regarding how well they each address moral responsibility. Do you favor one approach over others, and why?

What is freedom? Why is it important?   Is it an absolute or conditional value? In what sense is freedom necessary (or not necessary)for a good life?   Your essay should clarify the meaning of freedom, distinguishing among the kinds of freedom (intrinsic, extrinsic, positive, negative, rational, emotional, capricious)while clarifying in what circumstances these forms of freedom are desirable or undesirable.

Jean-Paul Sartre and the psychiatrist Erich Fromm both argue that

Assume that determinism is true about your body's movements. Assume also that your consciousness, unlike your body, is not part of the scheme of determinism, and so is free to make decisions, free to choose what to do. If these assumptions are true, then it follows that