Name: Calvin Humphries
Section #: 1302-23405
Date: March 5, 2018
Libertarianism, Hard Determinism, Compatibilism and Their Relationship to Free Will
The three leading theories of free will are Libertarianism, Hard Determinism and Compatibilism. They share some similarities and some definite differences. The first thing we must do before we explore these philosophical tenets is define free will.
Free will is defined by three things: (1) there is nothing that prevents a person from doing a certain thing, (2) there is nothing that keeps a person from doing or forces them to do a certain thing and, (3) the person can do whatever they choose. A person’s actions are free, according to Hobbes, if a person can do what they have a will to do. The “will,” means the last appetite before action; it is the state of mind that leads one to act. The idea is that freedom means there is nothing external blocking you from doing what you will to do. It does not matter whether your decision to do one thing rather than another was caused by factors outside of your control.
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The reason being that, though most people believe that metaphysical actions are at play in our daily lives, we are still free to make our own decisions. Christianity is based on the idea of free will despite our actions possibly being contrary to what God would want us to do. Our justice system is based on free will in the sense that there is culpability for our actions, so as a society we are charged with the moral responsibility that comes with free will. There is no legal defense of, “the devil made me do it”. We regularly make choices that are based on our own desires or that go against our desires and we also have the choice to act or not act in every situation. Is libertarianism an absolute answer? No, but I believe it is closest to the truth in regard to our ability to exercise free