WJEC/Eduqas RS for A2/Yr2: Religion and Ethics (DRAFT)

T4 Determinism and free will

Issues for analysis and evaluation Whether moral responsibility is an illusion This issue is asking us to consider whether people should accept responsibility for their actions and/or should they be blamed or praised for their actions. Once again, it is possible to approach the above issue from several lines of argument. The challenge of determinism to moral responsibility is from the idea that we are not able to do otherwise. The theory of hard determinism states that a person’s life is totally determined by factors such as environment or heredity. Therefore, if hard determinism holds true and people have absolutely no free will, then the only conclusion that can be drawn is that people have no control over their moral attitudes. All human ideas of moral responsibility, therefore, are just an illusion. This point could be supported from a variety of perspectives. Augustine stated in his predestination theory that people are ‘so hopelessly corrupted that we are absolutely incapable of doing anything good by our own forces; free choice, if it means a choice between good and evil, has been utterly wasted by sin; our will, insofar as it is ours, and not God’s, can merely do evil and desire evil’. What Augustine seems to be saying is that if a person has a choice between choosing X or Y, and where X is the morally good choice and where Y is the morally evil choice, the person will often choose Y. The person’s values of right and wrong are flawed. Therefore, moral responsibility is clearly an illusion. Again, Enlightenment philosopher Spinoza argued that ‘there is no absolute or free will, the mind is determined to wish this or that by a cause’. Spinoza is arguing that a person’s moral choices are merely the inevitable result of a chain of infinite regress. However, Phillipa Foot argued that because our actions are determined by our motives, our character and values, our feelings and desires, in no way leads to the conclusion that they are predetermined from the beginning of the universe. The American philosopher John Hospers (1918–2011) argues that moral values are worthless because there is always some cause that compels us to do what we do. He simply says that moral choice ‘is all a matter of luck’. Basically, any moral choice a person makes is not down to any value they may hold but just a matter of luck on how they were caused to choose by a set of determining factors in any particular moral situation. Perhaps the best summing up that a person’s sense of moral responsibility is an illusion comes from psychologist B. F. Skinner when he stated: ‘Man has no will, intention, self-determinism or personal responsibility’. Therefore, all the above clearly support the idea that moral responsibility is clearly an illusion. Recent research by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences has shown that some moments before we are aware of what we will do next – a time in which we subjectively appear to have complete freedom to behave however we please – our brain has already determined what we will do. We then become conscious of this decision and believe that we are in the process of making it. This suggests that free will is an illusion and therefore moral responsibility is an illusion. A counter argument might be that although decisions are unconsciously prepared, we do not yet know where the final decision is made. However, the above line of argument can be countered. It can be argued that moral responsibility is not an illusion. Libertarians believe a person’s moral life is completely free from deterministic factors. Therefore, if libertarianism holds true, that people have absolute free will, then the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the person has moral responsibility. This is because a person can freely choose his or her own moral path. Therefore, moral responsibility is not an illusion. The above point can be supported in several ways.

This section covers AO2 content and skills

Specification content Whether moral responsibility is an illusion.

Key quote Among physically possible actions, only those which we actually think of are to be regarded as possible. When several alternative actions present themselves, it is certain that we can both do which we choose and choose which we will. In this sense all the alternatives are possible. What determinism maintains is that our will to choose this or that alternative is the effect of antecedents; but this does not prevent our will from being itself a cause of other effects. And the sense in which different decisions are possible seems sufficient to distinguish some actions as right and some as wrong, some as moral and some as immoral. (Russell) AO2 Activity As you read through this section try to do the following: 1. Pick out the different lines of argument that are presented in the text and identify any evidence given in support. 2. For each line of argument try to evaluate whether or not you think this is strong or weak. 3. Think of any questions you may wish to raise in response to the arguments. This Activity will help you to start thinking critically about what you read and help you to evaluate the effectiveness of different arguments and from this develop your own observations, opinions and points of view that will help with any conclusions that you make in your answers to the AO2 questions that arise.

DRAFT

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