Ethics

OCR students please note – free will has dropped off the new OCR spec but remains on some of the other…

The structure of ideas is given here: click on a hyperlinked box to navigate through the site and identify the areas you need to understand.

Reading: Dialogue 6 (April 1996)  has a very useful overview by Rob Cook entitled Determinism and Free Will (back copies are available…

Free Will and Determinism Issues surrounding free will and determinism often seem like spaghetti: they twist and turn in the mind…

Can we have free will if every event including every mental event (thought) has a pre-cause? Free will and determinism from…

Free will and determinism 1. https://peped.org/philosophicalinvestigations 2. Issue 1: Can I be held responsible for my actions? • In 1924 US…

An exploration of Skinner’s and Watson’s form of behaviourism and how it informs the free will debate Determinism and behaviourism from…

Q2 “Critically assess the view that free will and determinism are compatible”. G582 OCR Jan 2012 Below you will find the…

Hume’s Compatibilism source Philosophy 322: Modern Philosophy Professor Geoff Pynn Northern Illinois University Spring 2011 1 What is compatibilism? 1. Determinism…

In this useful link Ted Honderish has brought togther every article you might need to investigate the free will debate from…

Free will and determinism remain a popular choice for examiners, as the first paper in the new spec shows (see below)….

Is Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene) a determinist? Note: this article is based on the Channel 4 programme broadcast with Richard…

EXTRACT Locke Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book II, Chapter XXI, Of Power Locke believes only the person is free (the agent)…

In these three extracts we have insights into how eugenics, the theory of genetic inferiority and breeding for a superior race,…

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/linguistics-and-philosophy/24-231-ethics-fall-2009/lecture-notes/MIT24_231F09_lec24.pdf Peter van Inwagen, “The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism” PvI’s “main argument”: (note: he is an incompatibilist who maintains that…

In this short article the relationship between natural law, reason and the virtue of justice (a key virtue of the will,…

A dialogue with Locke on freedom of the will : Hume, An Essay concerning Human Understanding Locke: ‘so far as a…

SARTRE SUMMARY 1. EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE. "Freedom is existence, and in it existence precedes essence." This means that what we do,…

‘The more I thought about time and space, the more the problems proliferated. One thing that came to puzzle me very…

Free Will: The Scandal in Philosophy by Bob Doyle. I found this source recently available from the informationphilosopher website, and I…

source Daniel Dennett (1942-) While he himself is a confirmed compatibilist, even a determinist, in “On Giving Libertarians What They Say They…

I. Locke’s idea of active powers 1. Active power is the power to “make a change.” Example: fire has a power…

Peter van Inwagen: Libertarianism and incompatibilism Peter Van Inwagen is a libertarian who believes that free will is incompatible with determinism….

source The Indeterminist Argument Against Soft Determinism The libertarian definition of freedom Genuine freedom is contextual (always freedom with respect to…

Kant's compatibilism There are a number of well-known incompatibilist objections to the spontaneity argument. The first and most obvious is that…

For a very full and detailed discussion of the nature of Hume's compatibilism click here. For an excellent discussion between a…

In this article Victor Stnger, a physicist, counters Sam Harris' claim that are wills are fully determined and so there can…

Here is an interesting article contrasting Catholic and Calvinist ideas of predestination. It's about time Theological Determinism came up in the…

In this extract from Wiliam Rowe’s classic textbook (Wadsworth 2001) he explains the relationship between foreknowledge, predestination and human freedom. Here…

source Locke’s Compatibilism: Suspension of desire or Suspension of Determinism?[1] In Book II, chapter xxi of the Essay Concerning Human Understanding,…

Click here for a pdf version of libertarian Peter van Inwagen's classic explanation in 2008 of the nature of the free…

In this brilliantly clear and well-argued article Paul Russell of the University of British Columbia considers the nature of Hume's compatibilism….

Compatibilism as a view that freedom and determinism can be reconciled has a long history dating back to Thimas Hobbes (leviathan)…

SARTRE SUMMARY source: sonoma.edu 1. EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE. “Freedom is existence, and in it existence precedes essence.” This means that what we…

Predestination and Calvin’s TULIP It's called Calvin's TULIP because the five main points of Calvin's doctrine of predestination spell the…

A2 Religious Ethics Freewill & Determinism Some Case Studies.   Case Studies 1-3 all, in various ways, can be used to…

Film Clips Here are three films which can be directly related to three philosphical positions.  The Truman Show allows us to…

Hobbes (1588-1679) Kant (1724 -1804) Compatibilist     Libertarian Free will compatible with determinism.     Free will incompatible with determinism….

Here is possibly the clearest explanation of the free will/determinism debate I have ever read.  If you use Robert Bowie, you…