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Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension

Richard Startup

Open Journal of Philosophy, Volume: 11, Issue: 04, Pages: 482 - 498

Swansea University Author: Richard Startup

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DOI (Published version): 10.4236/ojpp.2021.114032

Abstract

Progress may be made in resolving the tension between free will and determinism by analysis of the necessary conditions of freedom. It is of the essence that these conditions include causal and deterministic regularities. Furthermore, the human expression of free will is informed by understanding so...

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Published in: Open Journal of Philosophy
ISSN: 2163-9434 2163-9442
Published: Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. 2021
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61380
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first_indexed 2022-09-29T15:29:04Z
last_indexed 2023-01-13T19:22:07Z
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spelling v2 61380 2022-09-29 Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension d86a8b1f7833763cea35d2b88386d0d4 Richard Startup Richard Startup true false 2022-09-29 FGHSS Progress may be made in resolving the tension between free will and determinism by analysis of the necessary conditions of freedom. It is of the essence that these conditions include causal and deterministic regularities. Furthermore, the human expression of free will is informed by understanding some of those regularities, and increments in that understanding have served to enhance freedom. When the possible character of a deterministic system based on physical theory is considered, it is judged that, far from implying the elimination of human freedom, such a theory might simply set parameters for it; indeed knowledge of that system could again prove to be in some respects liberating. On the other hand, it is of the essence that the overarching biological framework is not a deterministic system and it foregrounds the behavioural flexibility of humans in being able to choose within a range of options and react to chance occurrences. Furthermore, an issue for determinism flows from the way in which randomness (e.g. using a true random number generator) and chance events could and do enter human life. Once the implications of that issue are fully understood, other elements fit comfortably together in our understanding of freely undertaken action: the contribution of reasons and causes; the fact that reasons are never sufficient to account for outcomes; the rationale for the attribution of praise and blame. Journal Article Open Journal of Philosophy 11 04 482 498 Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. 2163-9434 2163-9442 Free Will, Determinism, Randomness, Reasons and Causes, Praise and Blame 11 11 2021 2021-11-11 10.4236/ojpp.2021.114032 COLLEGE NANME Humanities and Social Sciences - Faculty COLLEGE CODE FGHSS Swansea University 2024-04-23T10:27:12.5538407 2022-09-29T16:26:35.5390054 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Richard Startup 1 61380__25267__41baf11429614a60b1517b31561fbf0f.pdf 61380_VoR.pdf 2022-09-29T16:29:25.5464104 Output 314808 application/pdf Version of Record true Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension
spellingShingle Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension
Richard Startup
title_short Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension
title_full Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension
title_fullStr Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension
title_full_unstemmed Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension
title_sort Free Will and Determinism: Resolving the Tension
author_id_str_mv d86a8b1f7833763cea35d2b88386d0d4
author_id_fullname_str_mv d86a8b1f7833763cea35d2b88386d0d4_***_Richard Startup
author Richard Startup
author2 Richard Startup
format Journal article
container_title Open Journal of Philosophy
container_volume 11
container_issue 04
container_start_page 482
publishDate 2021
institution Swansea University
issn 2163-9434
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doi_str_mv 10.4236/ojpp.2021.114032
publisher Scientific Research Publishing, Inc.
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
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description Progress may be made in resolving the tension between free will and determinism by analysis of the necessary conditions of freedom. It is of the essence that these conditions include causal and deterministic regularities. Furthermore, the human expression of free will is informed by understanding some of those regularities, and increments in that understanding have served to enhance freedom. When the possible character of a deterministic system based on physical theory is considered, it is judged that, far from implying the elimination of human freedom, such a theory might simply set parameters for it; indeed knowledge of that system could again prove to be in some respects liberating. On the other hand, it is of the essence that the overarching biological framework is not a deterministic system and it foregrounds the behavioural flexibility of humans in being able to choose within a range of options and react to chance occurrences. Furthermore, an issue for determinism flows from the way in which randomness (e.g. using a true random number generator) and chance events could and do enter human life. Once the implications of that issue are fully understood, other elements fit comfortably together in our understanding of freely undertaken action: the contribution of reasons and causes; the fact that reasons are never sufficient to account for outcomes; the rationale for the attribution of praise and blame.
published_date 2021-11-11T10:27:09Z
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score 11.036334

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