Deck 7: Freedom

Question 1

Indeterminists often argue that while all events have causes, there is a "gap" in the sequence of causes large enough to allow for free choice.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Some soft determinists agree with determinists that if we knew everything, we could predict a person's actions with certainty (or at least a very high probability).

Answer 2

True

Question 3

David Hume, a "soft determinist," believed that an action was free if it followed from a person's "character," because a person is responsible for her own character.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

If we assume that the self is a social entity that depends on others for its existence, then what will count as freedom will necessarily involve our relationships with others.

Question 5

To t he hero of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground, freedom is acting entirely on whim, for no reason whatsoever.

Question 6

Jim assumes that freedom is exclusively negative freedom from interference by government agencies and other people. This leads to the absurd conclusion that the person who is most free is the person out in the middle of the desert, safely out of range of interference from the government and other people.

Question 7

A good example of rational freedom is the freedom to express your emotions.

Question 8

Both determinists and compatibilists agree that consciousness can intrude on the physical order of causes and effects without being part of that order.

Question 9

When Immanuel Kant said, "Ought implies can," he meant that without freedom there could be no morality.

Question 10

In Dostoevsky's story of the Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov, after Jesus returns to earth, he is arrested by the Grand Inquisitor because he offered people the path of freedom.

Question 11

Aristotle believed that an action might be free even if the person who did it was pushed or forced into doing it.

Question 12

If every choice or action is fully determined and fully explainable, then no choice is really free and in fact is not really a choice.

Question 13

The French Newtonian philosopher Pierre-Simon de Laplace argued that determinism must be false, as it is impossible to predict the future.

Question 14

The strongest version of determinism implies that "Every event has its sufficient natural explanatory cause(s)."

Question 15

Soft determinists deny that human beings are morally responsible for their actions.

Question 16

Freedom is always a good thing for those who have it.

Question 17

To have chosen A means that one could have chosen B.

Question 18

Even if indeterminists are right in claiming that it is impossible to predict what a subatomic particle in our bodies might do, this does not imply that it is impossible to predict what our bodies will do.

Question 19

According to the African Yoruba philosophy, prior to being born, people know what sort of "ori" or soul they will have, and hence whether they will have good or bad luck in their lives.

Question 20

There is no difference between metaphysical libertarianism and political libertarianism.

Question 21

In focusing exclusively on negative freedom, we can easily

A)become emotionally negative.
B)lose sight of what we want that freedom for.
C)lose our religious faith.
D)achieve happiness.

Question 22

In the statement "Every event has its sufficient natural explanatory cause(s)," the word sufficient means that the cause is

A)incapable of bringing the event about by itself.
B)capable of bringing the event about by itself.
C)necessary for the event to occur.
D)indeterminate.

Question 23

According to Sartre, there are extreme circumstances, such as war, in which your freedom is eliminated or totally absent.

Question 24

If a man holds a gun to my head and forces me to give him my wallet, then

A)I am not free.
B)I have no choice.
C)I am only negatively free.
D)I have nonetheless freely chosen not to fight and be shot.

Question 25

According to Kant, when we act we have to think of ourselves as acting freely.

Question 26

In the history of the United States, the emergence of freedom of personal choice has

A)threatened and sometimes destroyed the peaceful harmony of conformist communities.
B)nearly always resulted in benefits for all.
C)nearly always resulted in a lessening of social conflict.
D)never been achieved.

Question 27

According to Frithjof Bergmann, our culture

A)has a deterministic view of freedom.
B)does not really believe in freedom.
C)has a single view of freedom.
D)has a schizophrenic view of freedom.

Question 28

Harry Frankfurt believed that we do not have responsibility for our actions unless we have real options to do otherwise than we did.

Question 29

People who conceive of the self as an isolated individual self will typically view freedom as

A)freedom from other people and society.
B)freedom for some specific end.
C)positive freedom.
D)illusory and unattainable.

Question 30

Rational freedom implies

A)being able to do what you want when you want it.
B)attaining happiness.
C)only negative freedom.
D)carefully planned and thoroughly thought-out actions.

Question 31

One implication of the Heisenberg principle of uncertainty is that

A)it is impossible to predict future events on a subatomic level.
B)it is possible to predict the future, but only assuming human beings have an immaterial soul.
C)future events cannot be predicted..
D)causati causation is a fiction. on is a fiction.

Question 32

Assume that determinism is true about your body's movements. Assume also that your consciousness, unlike your body, is not part of the scheme of determinism, and so is free to make decisions, free to choose what to do. If these assumptions are true, then it follows that

A)only rational freedom is possible.
B)your consciousness cannot have an effect on the body's movements and actions.
C)your consciousness can have an effect on the body's movements or actions.
D)determinism is true even of your consciousness.

Question 33

If indeterminism is true and there are uncaused actions, then those actions

A)must be accomplished by something resembling Descartes's thinking substance.
B)fulfill the requirements for positive freedom.
C)are truly free.
D)are not truly free, as freedom requires our choices to effectively cause our actions.

Question 34

Jean-Paul Sartre and the psychiatrist Erich Fromm both argue that

A)until we can prove the existence of free will, we will not be truly free.
B)freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
C)we all try to "escape from freedom" because we find it too painful.
D)we all try to escape from the fact that we are not free.

Question 35

If having a choice means to be able to do either A or B, then determinism seems to imply

A)that there is no real choice.
B)that freedom of choice is an achievement.
C)positive freedom.
D)that people must be forced to be free.

Question 36

For philosophers who define determinism as implying only predictability on the basis of probability, to say that every event is determined means only that

A)it is not predictable even when we know everything about earlier conditions.
B)it would predictable if only we knew enough about earlier conditions.
C)past causal conditions cannot be known.
D)the future is entirely unpredictable.

Question 37

"The only liberty which can be a real thing [is] the liberty of the State and of the individual within the State" was stated by

A)Karl Marx.
B)Patrick Henry.
C)Benito Mussolini.
D)John Locke.

Question 38

When Rousseau argued that people should be forced to be free (by being made to "obey the general will" of the people), he was endorsing

A)negative freedom.
B)positive freedom.
C)the freedom from constraints.
D)the end of real freedom

Question 39

Kant believed that determinism is true of every possible event and object of human knowledge, including human actions.

Question 40

Jean-Paul Sartre rejects Kant's notion that we must view our actions as free.

Question 41

What is freedom? Why is it important?   Is it an absolute or conditional value? In what sense is freedom necessary (or not necessary)for a good life?   Your essay should clarify the meaning of freedom, distinguishing among the kinds of freedom (intrinsic, extrinsic, positive, negative, rational, emotional, capricious)while clarifying in what circumstances these forms of freedom are desirable or undesirable.

Question 42

What is the Heisenberg uncertainty principle?

Question 43

What is the difference between rational freedom and emotional freedom?

Question 44

David Hume, who was a soft determinist, believed that we could say that an act was free

A)so long as indeterminism was true.
B)if it followed from a person's "character."
C)so long as its past causes were not sufficient to produce it.
D)the person performing it was not morally blameworthy.

Question 45

If soft determinism is true, then

A)we can continue to hold people responsible for their actions, even if their actions are determined.
B)we cannot continue to hold people responsible for their actions because their actions are determined.
C)we must accept the fact that we have no control over our actions.
D)we must accept the fact that we are unable to act freely.

Question 46

What is compatibilism ?

Question 47

What does Kant mean when he says freedom is a postulate of practical reason?

Question 48

Briefly explain Aristotle's two conditions for a free action.

Question 49

Soft determinists believe that

A)determinism is false.
B)determinism has many therapeutic remedies that can help us cope with difficult times.
C)freedom and determinism are compatible.
D)freedom and determinism are incompatible.

Question 50

W hen Sartre said, "We were never more free than during the German occupation," he meant that

A)the occupied people confronted the fact of their freedom and the need to make a commitment.
B)the occupied people were able to escape from their everyday concerns and relationships.
C)soft determinism is true.
D)soft determinism is false.

Question 51

Existentialists agree with Kant in asserting that

A)indeterminism is false.
B)soft determinism is false.
C)even if determinism is false, we must take the tragic view of ourselves as necessarily unfree.
D)our decisions and actions cannot be viewed as having any causes whatsoever.

Question 52

What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic freedom?

Question 53

Why do determinists believe that no choices are free?

Question 54

What is indeterminism?

Question 55

What does Jean-Paul Sartre mean when he says we are "condemned to be free"?

Question 56

What is the difference between negative freedom and positive freedom ?

Question 57

Kant argued that whether we are free depends on our standpoint, and that we can adopt two different standpoints toward the world:

A)  a theoretical standpoint where freedom is possible, and a practical one, where freedom is impossible.
B)a theoretical standpoint where freedom is impossible, and a practical one, where freedom is possible
C)a theoretical standpoint and a practical one, both making freedom impossible.
D)a monistic standpoint and a pluralistic standpoint, both making freedom possible.

Question 58

Aristotle argued that an act could be free only if it was both free from "external compulsion" and

A)divinely mandated.
B)not determined by past actions.
C)performed for morally acceptable reasons.
D)free of ignorance (where the actor didn't know what she was doing).

Question 59

The statement that we are "condemned to be free" was made by

A)John Stuart Mill.
B)Immanuel Kant.
C)Jean-Paul Sartre.
D)David Hume.

Question 60

Suppose someone offers Anne a cigarette after she has decided to give up smoking. According to Kant, Anne

A)must think of her choice in a deterministic way.
B)must try to predict her own behavior.
C)must make a decision whether to accept it or not.
D)cannot freely choose.

Question 61

It is clear that the concepts of moral responsibility and freedom are linked. Consider the following four cases:
A. Dave was having an affair with Todd's wife Ethel and wanted her husband out of the way. After weeks of planning and stalking Todd, Dave shot and killed him as Todd left the gym. ​
B. One night in a bar, Dave had way too much to drink. He got into a vicious argument with Todd, who was also drunk and verbally abusive. In a state of alcoholic rage, Dave went to his car, got a gun, and came back to shoot Todd. ​
C. Dave, a combat veteran, was suffering severe conditions of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Waking up from a blackout, he hallucinated that he was on the battlefield and that Todd was the enemy. Thinking he was acting in self-defense, he shot and killed Todd. ​
D.   Dave is kidnapped by terrorists and told that unless he cooperates with them in attacking and possibly killing innocent civilians, his family will be killed. ​
Now write an essay in which you imagine you are on a jury charged with assessing Dave's guilt or innocence in each case, where guilt implies being morally and legally responsible. Applying Aristotle's two criteria for free actions, how would you assess Dave's guilt or innocence in each case, and why? If more information is needed, what is that information, and would its provision help you decide the case? Can you think of any other cases that serve as interesting test applications of Aristotle's framework?   What general conclusions can you draw about the relationship between freedom and moral responsibility?

Question 62

Write an argumentative essay defending or criticizing determinism.   Your essay should address the argument for determinism, and why (or why not)it is defensible. If you defend determinism, you'll need also to address indeterminist and soft determinist counterarguments. Conversely, if you defend either indeterminism or soft determinism, you'll need to consider how a determinist is likely to respond. You can use materials from Chapter 7 but are not limited to these.

Question 63

Write an essay on the problem of free will and determinism. Your essay should clarify what the problem is and discuss various solutions to the problem: determinism (including the argument for determinism); indeterminism, compatibilism, and soft determinism (both forms); and both Kant's and Sartre's views on freedom.   Focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each approach regarding how well they each address moral responsibility. Do you favor one approach over others, and why?

Question 64

Write a fictional, argumentative dialogue between two or more characters debating the meaning of freedom and the problem of freedom and determinism. Your characters should each take stands and defend them with clearly stated reasons. They can respectfully disagree with one another, and should try to address each other's criticisms. Be especially aware of the assumptions that each character makes when s/he takes a stand. Your dialogue can conclude with agreement, agreeing to disagree, or some sort of new synthesis of preliminary positions. Dialogues should include discussion of the meaning and importance or value of freedom, and of some aspects of the debate over freedom and determinism. They should bring out your perceptions of what's at stake in this issue.   You can draw on materials from Chapter 7, but you are not limited to these. You may also wish to stage this dialogue as an oral presentation to your class or make a video of it.