Question 1

_____________ summarized the problem of freedom and one Christian solution to it: God made human beings free because He is all good, and free actions are better than unfree ones.

Accepted Answer

The problem of freedom and one Christian solution to it is summarized by Augustine, who believed that God made human beings free because He is all good and free actions are better than unfree ones. This is known as the Augustinian solution to the problem of freedom.

Question 2

The ancient Greek tragedies depend on _____________, the view that whatever a person's actions and circumstances, however free that person may seem, his or her predetermined end is inevitable.

Accepted Answer

The definition given in the question perfectly matches the concept of fatalism, which is the belief that events are determined by fate or a predetermined outcome. Both predestination and free will are opposite concepts where the former claims that everything is predetermined by a higher power, and the latter claims that humans have full control over their actions and lives. Chaos is unrelated to this concept and refers to disorder or confusion.

Question 3

_____________ is the view that our every action (and every event in the universe) is known, if not also caused in advance, by God.

Accepted Answer

Predestination is the view that God has already determined everything that will happen in the universe, including our actions, before they occur. This belief is often associated with certain religious traditions, such as Calvinism in Christianity.

Question 4

_____________ was a hard determinist.

Accepted Answer

LaPlace was a hard determinist who believed that every event, including human actions, is completely determined by previous events and the laws of nature.

Question 5

_____________ offered various fictions to facilitate thinking about problems with traditional accounts of determinism that presented "truly frightening bugbears" as means of presenting the question of free will.

Accepted Answer

The statement refers to Daniel Dennett's fictional scenarios presented in his book "Elbow Room" that aim to challenge deterministic explanations of free will.

Question 6

Many philosophers have argued for _____________, the view that human freedom and determinism are compatible positions.

Accepted Answer

Soft determinism, also known as compatibilism, argues that free will and determinism can coexist. This view holds that even though our actions are determined by prior causes, we can still be morally responsible for our actions and have a degree of control over them.

Question 7

_____________ defended the hard determinist viewpoint so uncompromisingly that he shocked even his colleagues as well as many traditionalists.

Accepted Answer

Out of the given options, d'Holbach was the strongest defender of hard determinism. He argued that all human actions were determined by prior causes and that free will was an illusion. His views were so radical that they shocked both his colleagues and traditionalists. Hume and Kant had nuanced views on determinism and free will, while Sartre was an existentialist who believed in the ultimate freedom of choice.

Question 8

In novels such as George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, a _____________ view of human nature is attacked as potentially creating the philosophical basis of societies more oppressive and authoritarian than any we have even seen.

Accepted Answer

The novels mentioned criticize a determinist view of human nature, which posits that human behavior is predetermined and therefore individuals have no real agency or ability to make choices that might change the course of their lives. This view is seen as potentially leading to oppressive societies where individuals are not given the freedom to make their own choices or act on their own desires.

Question 9

_____________, who uses Freud and psychoanalysis as the basis for his claim that all our acts are compelled and not free, insofar as all our acts are brought about by a set of psychological determinants over which we have no control.

Accepted Answer

Hospers uses Freud and psychoanalysis to argue that our actions are not free but are compelled by psychological determinants beyond our control. This perspective emphasizes the influence of unconscious factors on human behavior, aligning with Freudian theory.

Question 10

_____________ presented a similar but more joyous sentiment on the importance of freedom than Dostoyevsky.

Accepted Answer

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk and peace activist, has written extensively on the importance of freedom and its connection to joy and happiness. He believes that true freedom comes from being free of attachment and grasping, and that it leads to a sense of liberation and interconnectedness with others. This sentiment is similar to Dostoyevsky's, but with a more positive and joyful tone.

Question 11

Compare and contrast hard determinism, soft determinism, and indeterminism. Explain why indeterminism is just as problematic as hard determinism. From which two traditions of physics do these views arise?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Compare and contrast hard determinism, soft determinism,...

Question 12

Compare and contrast fatalism and karma. Which view makes the most sense?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Compare and contrast fatalism and karma. Which...

Question 13

Explain the concept of predestination. Which is the Islamic conception of predestination? Contrast this view to the Western religious view.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain the concept of predestination. Which is...

Question 14

Write your account of a debate between Sartre and Frankfurt on the existence of freedom.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Write your account of a debate between...

Question 15

Argue for the position that freedom means simply "not constrained." Can this position be reconciled with the idea that freedom means "could have done otherwise"? Why or why not?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Argue for the position that freedom means...

Question 16

Would you rather be a gear in a big deterministic machine or some random swerving probabilistic atomic particle in an indeterministic system? If every action (including yours) in the universe is determined, then you don't have freedom. If every action (including yours) in the universe is random, then you don't have freedom. If every action (including yours) is a percentage of each, then you don't have freedom. Is there another alternative that can save your freedom?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Would you rather be a gear in...

Question 17

Does it make sense to praise or blame someone for something that person had no control over? If she couldn't do otherwise, would there be any justification for accolades or punishment? Discuss the correlation between moral responsibility and free will.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Does it make sense to praise or...

Question 18

How are fatalism, hard determinism, and predestination different? Common street lingo may use these terms synonymously; however, there are important distinctions for the philosopher. What are they?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How are fatalism, hard determinism, and predestination...

Question 19

Discuss Dennett's insight that whenever philosophers or laypeople worry about whether we have free will, they mount illicit arguments (straw man fallacies) that some rival agent is involved. They then show how ludicrous it would be to assume that a rival agent is vying for control of our bodies and minds, thereby taking away our free will (or preventing us from having it in the first place). However, without these "bogymen," as Dennett put it, to anchor the philosophical discussions, the idea of a natural lack of free will would not be so strange. Why did Dennett think agency confound the discussion?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Discuss Dennett's insight that whenever philosophers or...

Question 20

Consider Robert Kane's notion of "self-forming choices." The idea is that we create our characters and dispositions by the ongoing choices we make, that is, we create our selves. Discuss how this might come about in the physical sense, according to Kane. He suggested that there is a "stirring up of chaos in the brain that makes it sensitive to micro-indeterminacies at the neuronal level." How would moments of self-formation actually alter neuronal processes? How might you go about designing an experiment to test this hypothesis?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Consider Robert Kane's notion of "self-forming choices."...

Quiz 6: Freedom