5 Free Will and Determinism Free Online FlashCards

What is free will?

Free will is a form of control over one’s choices and actions.

What is causal determinism?

Causal determinism is the thesis that the state of the world at a given time, together with the laws of nature, fixes one possible future.

How does determinism differ from fatalism?

Fatalism says an outcome will occur regardless of what one does. Under determinism, deliberating and acting can still be among the causes that bring an outcome about.

Why doesn’t indeterminism by itself prove free will?

Indeterminism alone does not establish freedom: an action caused by random chance may seem no more under the agent’s control.

What do compatibilists claim?

Compatibilists hold that free will can exist even if determinism is true.

What kind of action can count as free for a compatibilist?

A compatibilist may count an action as free when it expresses the agent’s own motives and reasoning, rather than resulting from coercion or physical restraint.

What do incompatibilists claim?

Incompatibilists hold that free will and determinism cannot both be true.

What is the core reasoning of the Consequence Argument?

The Consequence Argument reasons that if determinism is true, present actions follow from the distant past and laws of nature, which agents cannot control; this may mean those actions are not up to them.

Who are libertarians in the free-will debate?

Libertarians are incompatibilists who believe people sometimes have free will and that determinism is false.

What is agent causation?

Agent causation is the view that the agent—not merely prior events—causes a choice.

What do hard determinists conclude?

Hard determinists accept determinism and conclude that free will is absent.

Why do hard incompatibilists deny free will under either possibility?

Hard incompatibilists argue that free will is absent whether determinism or indeterminism is true: determination threatens ultimate control, while chance does not supply it.