Philosophy: Basic Questions; Prof



Philosophy: Basic Questions; Prof. Boedeker; handout on free will

Although many of us today believe in free will, this is a relatively _______________________ concept in Western culture.

I. Plato:

A. Because Plato equates virtue with _______________________, there is no room for free will in his philosophy.

B. If someone knows what is good to do, she _______________________ does it.

C. Someone does the wrong thing only out of _______________________.

II. Aristotle:

A. Aristotle _______________________ Plato’s view that virtue is identical with knowledge. Plato’s view can’t account for incontinence (=_______________________ the right thing to do, but doing something _______________________, anyway).

B. Nevertheless, there is no more room for “free will” in Aristotle’s philosophy than in Plato’s:

1. All action is based in _______________________.

2. Decisions result from deliberation about means to desired _______________________.

3. Someone _______________________ decides to act on the end he desires_______________________ at the time.

4. Thus for Aristotle, someone will always act in such a way as to pursue the desire that is _______________________.

5. Incontinence occurs when someone desires something that’s really _____________ for himself more than she desires something ____________________ for himself.

6. The only way to overcome incontinence is to ________________ yourself to desire what’s good for you more than what’s bad for you. And this occurs only through repeating actions in such a way that you habitually take ______________________ in doing what’s good for you, or take _________________ in doing what’s bad for you.

III. Will and (negative) freedom: These terms can mean 2 quite different things:

A. Political:

1. ordinary will = _______________________ = _______________________ (Latin voluntas; German Wille). Ordinary will is caused by things _______________________ to it, including the body, conditioning, advertisements, etc. Virtually all philosophers (including Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Descartes) believe in ordinary will.

2. ordinary (physical/political) freedom: x is (ordinarily) free if and only if there is no external _______________________ that prevents x from _______________________ something. Persons are physically/politically free physical/political free if and only if there’s _______________________ external to them preventing them from getting what they _______________________, or desire. A person who’s physically constrained (e.g., in prison) _______________________ be physically/politically free. Virtually all philosophers believe in physical/political freedom.

Metaphysical:

3. Metaphysical will (Latin liberum arbitrium; German Willkür): an ability to decide to act that’s not caused by anything _______________________ to itself. Thus literally _______________________ – including the _______________________ of the ordinary will – _______________________ the metaphysical will to make the decisions that it does. No matter how clearly know what is right to do, we can always in principle use our free will to ______________________ from this and do what we know is ________________________. Augustine was the _______________________ philosopher to believe in the metaphysical will.

4. Metaphysical (= arbitrary = spontaneous) freedom: What’s metaphysically free is not a whole _______________________, but just someone’s _______________________ of (metaphysical) will. Thus even someone who’s physically _______________________ (e.g., in prison) can have a metaphysically _________________ will. Since Augustine was the first philosopher to believe in the metaphysical will, he was also the first to believe in metaphysical _______________________.

IV. St. Augustine:

A. Literally _______________________ the concept of metaphysically free will – in order to solve the problem of moral _______________________: how the existence of moral evil is compatible with the omniscience, omnipotence, and (omni)benevolence of a God that _______________________ the universe out of _______________________. Augustine invents the concept of metaphysically free will in order to get God “off the _______________________” for moral evil.

B. God created our minds – including both our intellects and our free wills – in such a way that we _______________________ what the right thing to do is (through our _______________________), and can do what we know is right (though the proper use of our metaphysically free will).

C. Sin – going against God’s will, and thus our conscience – is entirely the fault of our _______________________ of our God-given metaphysically ___________ ____________.

V. The problem of moral _______________________ – and thus the notion of __________ _____________ – doesn’t arise for the ancient Greeks. This is because they didn’t conceive of God as either omniscient, omnipotent, or (omni)benevolent.

Aristotle argued that God is the _______________________ being, but does nothing but think about _______________________. Thus God is neither omniscient (since God is _______________________ of everything but Itself), omnipotent (since God can ________ nothing but think about Itself), nor benevolent (since God has no _______________________, and cannot change).

VI. The big question: Why do we believe in arbitrary/spontaneous free will? Is it only because we’re _______________________ of the true causes of our desires – such as _______________________, conditioning, unconscious _______________________, or even random events in the _______________________?

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