Deck 5: Free Will

Question 1

What is determinism? Explain one serious consequence of believing that the thesis of determinism is true.

Answer 1

good essay will:
Briefly describe the thesis of determinism.
State one consequence of believing in determinism and explain the problem(s) it raises for this view.
If possible, illustrate your answer with examples.

Question 2

What do you think it means to say that you could have done otherwise than you did?

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

Do you think that we can be morally responsible for our actions? Explain.

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

Determinism is the thesis that the past and the laws of nature necessitate everything that happens.

Question 5

According to determinism, all human action can be predicted in advance.

Question 6

Nagel believes that free will can be compatible with determinism.

Question 7

According to Nagel, moral responsibility may be impossible even if determinism is false.

Question 8

According to Nagel, all modern scientists accept that the physical universe operates according to completely deterministic principles.

Question 9

Nagel believes that

A) Determinism is incompatible with responsibility.
B) If all of our actions were caused by our psychological states, we would not be morally responsible.
C) It seems that we act freely.
D) All of the above.

Question 10

Nagel claims that if determinism is true, then all our actions are

A) Inevitable.
B) Predictable.
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 11

One problem Nagel claims we face if determinism is true is

A) The incompatibility of determinism with modern science.
B) The way determinism violates accepted causal explanations.
C) How moral responsibility is possible.
D) All of the above.

Question 12

According to one view Nagel discusses, an action can be free and causally determined if

A) The agent is forced to act by someone else.
B) The action is determined by psychological causes.
C) The agent accepts responsibility for the action.
D) None of the above.

Question 13

Nagel rejects the idea that

A) Free will could be a philosophical illusion.
B) He is responsible for actions that he himself determines.
C) People are to some degree personally responsible for their choices.
D) Physical and psychological conditions completely determine his actions.

Question 14

Explain how determinism might be thought to threaten our responsibility.

Question 15

Explain how indeterminism might be thought to threaten our responsibility.

Question 16

Do you think that you could have eaten something different for breakfast than you did eat? Explain what this means to you and why you do or do not think it is true.

Question 17

Do you agree with Stace that his definition of "free will" matches our ordinary use of the term? Explain.

Question 18

Explain why Stace claims that philosophers who deny free will assume a certain definition of "free will."

Question 19

How does Stace distinguish between free actions and unfree actions? Do you agree with him? Explain.

Question 20

On Stace's view, the problem of free will is more apparent than real.

Question 21

Stace defines "free will" as uncaused action.

Question 22

Free action, according to Stace, is incompatible with predictability.

Question 23

Free action, according to Stace, is caused by psychological states in the agent.

Question 24

There are no borderline cases on Stace's definition of "free will."

Question 25

According to Stace, philosophers who deny the existence of free will

A) Act as if they are not responsible.
B) Act randomly.
C) Accept its existence in practice.
D) Do not exist.

Question 26

According to Stace, the problem of free will and determinism is

A) Merely a verbal dispute.
B) Based on a confusion.
C) Not a real problem at all.
D) All of the above.

Question 27

Stace's definition of "free will"

A) Is incompatible with determinism.
B) Appeals to external forces.
C) Is idiosyncratic.
D) Appeals to the agent's psychological states.

Question 28

According to Stace, free acts are

A) Impossible.
B) Caused by desires or motives.
C) Caused by physical forces or conditions.
D) Caused by circumstances external to the agent.

Question 29

According to Stace, unfree acts are

A) Impossible.
B) Caused by desires or motives.
C) Caused by physical forces or conditions.
D) Caused by circumstances internal to the agent.

Question 30

Stace argues that free will and predictability are

A) Compatible.
B) Incompatible.
C) Compulsive.
D) Inconsistent.

Question 31

How does Stace define "free will"? Do you agree with his definition? Explain.

Question 32

How does Stace argue for the compatibility of free will and predictability?

Question 33

What is the importance of Stace's point that philosophers who deny the existence of free will affirm it in practice?
Freedom or Determinism?
Steven M. Cahn

Question 34

Summarize Darrow's argument. Now define "hard determinism," "soft determinism," and "libertarianism" in terms of which premises they accept or reject.

Question 35

Which of the three views presented in the text do you find most compelling, and why?

Question 36

Do you think that actions can be intelligible but not deterministically caused? Explain.

Question 37

Clarence Darrow argued that Leopold and Loeb were not legally responsible for their actions.

Question 38

The hard determinist believes that we are not morally responsible.

Question 39

The soft determinist believes that only some events are deterministically caused.

Question 40

The libertarian about free will believes in limited government.

Question 41

Answer: good essay will:
Briefly describe Frankfurt's story about Black and Jones.
Evaluate this as a counterexample to the principle of alternative possibilities by explaining exactly why you agree or disagree with Frankfurt's conclusion.
Construct a counterexample to the principle of alternative possibilities of your own and explain why it shows the principle to be false.
-The libertarian holds that we can explain human action in the same way that we can explain all events that occur.

Question 42

In the trial of Leopold and Loeb, Clarence Darrow argued that

A) Leopold and Loeb were innocent.
B) Leopold and Loeb were not morally responsible for their actions.
C) Leopold and Loeb should be executed.
D) Leopold and Loeb were not legally responsible for their actions.

Question 43

The hard determinist holds that

A) All actions must occur.
B) No action is free if it must occur.
C) We do not have free will.
D) All of the above.

Question 44

The soft determinist accepts that

A) All actions must occur.
B) Determinism is incompatible with moral responsibility.
C) Free will requires the possibility of doing otherwise than one did.
D) All of the above.

Question 45

The libertarian denies that

A) We have free will.
B) All actions have explanations.
C) All actions are deterministically caused.
D) We act at all.

Question 46

Critics of hard determinism

A) Claim it overlooks the results of quantum mechanics.
B) Reject its denial of moral responsibility.
C) Both a and
D) Point out its ambiguous definition of "freedom."

Question 47

Critics of soft determinism

A) Claim it is essentially libertarianism.
B) Reject its denial of moral responsibility.
C) Claim it confuses sleep-walking with being under the influence of drugs.
D) Point out its ambiguous definition of "freedom."

Question 48

Critics of libertarianism

A) Claim it leads to a dilemma such that we can never act responsibly.
B) Claim that it accepts hereditary and environmental causes of every human action.
C) Reject its denial of moral responsibility.
D) Point out its ambiguous definition of "freedom."

Question 49

What is the difference between a hard determinist and a soft determinist? Consider an objection to one of these views and explain why it is forceful.

Question 50

What characterizes a libertarian with respect to free will? What objections does this view face?

Question 51

Do you think we have free will? Explain.

Question 52

Do you find Frankfurt's counterexample to the principle of alternative possibilities convincing? Explain.
A good essay will:
• Briefly describe Frankfurt's story about Black and Jones.
• Evaluate this as a counterexample to the principle of alternative possibilities by explaining exactly why you agree or disagree with Frankfurt's conclusion.

Question 53

Construct a counterexample to the principle of alternative possibilities of your own and explain why it shows the principle to be false.

Question 54

Some have thought that Frankfurt's case of Jones and Black is unfair to the proponent of the principle of alternative possibilities. Explain why one might think this.

Question 55

Frankfurt defends the view that a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise.

Question 56

The case of Jones and Black supports the principle of alternative possibilities.

Question 57

Black actually does nothing in the example given by Frankfurt.

Question 58

Jones actually performs the action only because Black forces him to.

Question 59

Frankfurt claims that Jones is not morally responsible in the case he describes.

Question 60

Frankfurt argues against

A) Soft determinism.
B) The principle of alternative possibilities.
C) The principle of right action.
D) The existence of free will.

Question 61

The principle of alternative possibilities states that a person __________ for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise.

A) Is morally responsible.
B) Is legally responsible.
C) Is morally and legally responsible.
D) Should be excused.

Question 62

Frankfurt's case of Jones and Black

A) Provides support for the principle of alternative possibilities.
B) Provides support for libertarianism.
C) Provides a counterexample to the principle of alternative possibilities.
D) Both a and b

Question 63

In Frankfurt's case, Black

A) Cannot act freely.
B) Must intervene to force Jones's actions.
C) Cannot control Jones's actions.
D) Has control over Jones's actions.

Question 64

In Frankfurt's case, Jones

A) Cannot act freely.
B) Intervenes to force Black's actions.
C) Decides to do what Black wanted him to do.
D) Has control over Black's actions.

Question 65

If the principle of alternative possibilities is false, then

A) We can never be morally responsible in a deterministic world.
B) We might be morally responsible in a deterministic world.
C) We can never do otherwise than we do.
D) Free will is obviously an illusion.

Question 66

What does Frankfurt claim is usually assumed in discussions of free will? Why is the assumption problematic? Explain why you do or do not agree with him.

Question 67

What is the significance of Black in Frankfurt's example? Explain.

Question 68

Why does Frankfurt tell the story of Jones and Black? Does it serve its purpose well? Explain.

Question 69

Summarize Levy's argument against Frankfurt (previous reading). Do you find it convincing? Explain.
A good essay will:
• Briefly describe Frankfurt's counterexample and Levy's argument against this case.
• Evaluate Levy's response by demonstrating, in your own words, what you agree or disagree with and why.

Question 70

Explain the difference between Levy's voting case and the case of Jillian.

Question 71

What is the ultimate conclusion of Levy's article? Do you find this satisfying? Explain.

Question 72

The agent in a Frankfurt-style case gains capacities because of the context.

Question 73

Accord to Levy, Frankfurt-style cases can be understood as a variation of an example from John Locke.

Question 74

Levy intends the case of Jillian to be a counterexample to the principle of alternative possibilities.

Question 75

The proponent of Frankfurt-style cases supposes that the presence of the counterfactual intervener does not alter the agent's capacities to respond to and react to reasons.

Question 76

Levy takes himself to have decisively refuted Frankfurt's counterexample to the principle of alternative possibilities.

Question 77

Levy aims to show that the proponent of Frankfurt-style cases is not warranted in distinguishing between

A) The agent and the intervener.
B) The agent's capacities to respond or react to reasons and the context.
C) Gaining and losing capacities.
D) Abilities and capacities.

Question 78

A Frankfurt-style case is supposed to show that an agent can be __________ for what he does despite lacking alternative possibilities.

A) Morally responsible.
B) Legally responsible.
C) Morally and legally responsible.
D) Excused.

Question 79

Levy provides his own kind of case, which he labels a

A) Frankfurt-style case.
B) Frankfurt-like case.
C) Frankfurt-enabler case.
D) Principle of alternative possibilities.

Question 80

In Jillian's case

A) The doctor is malicious.
B) The doctor saves the drowning person.
C) Jillian is drowning.
D) The presence of the doctor adds to Jillian's capacities.