Determinism vs Free Will

(Hume) when we talk about free will we only mean that our desires match our actions, that we were not blocked from, or forced to choose other than the actions that match our desires

The “ultimate” source of our decisions must be ourselves in order to have free will

P1-we cannot change facts of the past P2-determinism is true since facts of the past are the only cause of the future C-no one has power to choose between alternatives

Smith Jones Black example demonstrates a case where someone could not have chosen otherwise and yet chose freely (the debate shouldn’t be centered around alternative possibilities)

Reactive attitudes are the basis of accountability (reflective endorsement is the source of normativity) and so it doesn’t matter whether free will actually exists (a pragmatic argument)

the reasons why we desire to justify holding people accountable are based in a fear-based desire for revenge or control which is immoral. We ought to focus on the long term welfare of all people which means we act the same whether a person acted “ultimately” out of free will or not (a pragmatic argument)

P1 pretends that “power to alter the facts of the past” is only in reference to magical time-travel but there is of course a sense in which there are alternative pasts that could exist and that would alter options.

the consequence argument assumes that all cases of past facts affecting our choices are independent of our agency or prior choices

We consider many plausible possible past circumstances and the likely range of responses a person might have. If a large enough number of them could have resulted in alternative options than we would say that the decision was freely willed rather than pre-determined

agential abilities are psychological in nature and the same external physical stimulus could result in a multiplicity of psychological responses so that free will happens in that bridge between the stimulus and the selection among possible psychological responses (requires a materialist view if mind-body problem).

The Reason View from Wolf’s Freedom Within Reason anchors free will in acting according to what an agent correctly regards as valuable (the True and the Good as Wolf puts it)