Chat with AIExam 9: Do We Have Free Will?
Describe Hume's position on free will, focusing on the two conditions he thinks must be met for the will to be free.
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Answered by Examlex AI CopilotDavid Hume's position on free will is that it is compatible with determinism, meaning that even though our actions are determined by prior causes, we still have the ability to make choices and act freely. Hume believes that for the will to be free, two conditions must be met.
The first condition is that our actions must be caused by our own desires and motives. Hume argues that our choices and actions are the result of our own internal motivations and desires, rather than being determined by external forces. This means that we are not coerced or forced into making a particular choice, but rather we act in accordance with our own internal inclinations.
The second condition is that we must have the ability to act on our desires. Hume acknowledges that there are external constraints that may limit our ability to act on our desires, such as physical limitations or social pressures. However, as long as we have the capacity to act on our desires, then our will is considered free.
Overall, Hume's position on free will emphasizes the importance of internal motivations and the ability to act on those motivations as the key components of a free will. He argues that even in a deterministic world, we still have the capacity to make choices and act freely based on our own internal desires and motivations.
__________ defended hard determinism by stating: "Man is a purely physical being. . . . [He is] subject to . . . immutable laws. . . . Man's life is a line that Nature commands him to describe upon the surface of the earth: without his ever being able to swerve from it even for an instant. He is born without his own consent [and] he is unceasingly modified by causes, whether visible or concealed, over which he has no control. . . . Nevertheless, despite of the shackles by which he is bound, it is pretended he is a free agent, or that independent of the causes by which he is moved, he determines his own will; regulates his own condition."
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VerifiedB
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(73) VerifiedA
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(72) According to determinists, the laws of physics are deterministic and govern
(79) According to the text, in contrast to the merely apparent "chance" character of dice rolls or coin flips, some quantum physicists believe __________ is/are a genuinely random process.
(64) When Hume said that a free person acts "according to the determinations of the will," he meant that a free person's actions are a result of
(82) __________ imagined a supernatural "demon," with unlimited memory, an unlimited ability to calculate, and a complete knowledge of the laws of physics, who, given a complete description of the world at some particular time, could figure out the whole subsequent course of history-including all human actions.
(78) Which condition(s) not obtaining led Hume to believe that the movements of an epileptic person having a seizure aren't free?
(68) Explain scientific libertarianism, focusing on whether it can or cannot accommodate each of the three features of human decision-making required for free will.
(84) After setting forth each position, compare and contrast scientific libertarianism and radical libertarianism.
(60) __________ rejected determinism by stating: "Determinism, in denying that anything else can be in its stead, virtually defines the universe as a place in which what ought to be is impossible,-in other words, as an organism whose constitution is afflicted with an incurable taint, an irremediable flaw."
(75) __________ claimed that we each have a nonphysical, "transcendental" self, that is outside space and time, is ungoverned by the laws of physics, and makes free decisions for which we are morally responsible.
(82) Which condition(s) not obtaining led Hume to believe that the movements of a prisoner aren't free?
(88) Which of the following is an aspect of what we have in mind when we say that we have "free will"?
(84) Owing to the belief in deterministic physics during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the solar system was sometimes compared to a(n)
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