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

T4 Determinism and free will

Key quotes The law of causation, according to which later events can theoretically be predicted by means of earlier events, has often been held to be a priori , a necessity of thought, a category without which science would not be possible. (Russell) The loss of particles and information down black holes meant that the particles that came out were random. One could calculate probabilities, but one could not make any definite predictions. Thus, the future of the universe is not completely determined by the laws of science and its present state, as Laplace thought. God still has a few tricks up his sleeve. (Stephen Hawking) John Locke – man in bedroom illustration Locke’s account of his illustration of the man in the bedroom is in Book II chapter XXI of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding : ‘Again: suppose a man be carried, whilst fast asleep, into a room where is a person he longs to see and speak with; and be there locked fast in, beyond his power to get out: he awakes, and is glad to find himself in so desirable company, which he stays willingly in, i.e. prefers his stay to going away. I ask, is not this stay voluntary? I think nobody will doubt it: and yet, being locked fast in, it is evident he is not at liberty not to stay, he has not freedom to be gone. So that liberty is not an idea belonging to volition, or preferring; but to the person having the power of doing, or forbearing to do, according as the mind shall choose or direct. Our idea of liberty reaches as far as that power, and no farther. For wherever restraint comes to check that power, or compulsion takes away that indifferency of ability to bear acting, there liberty, and our notion of it, presently ceases.’ Locke is arguing that in reality, the man has no option but to stay in the room. It is only his ignorance of the fact that that the door is locked, that gives him an illusion of freedom. Just as the man is ignorant of the fact the door is locked and thus has no choice but to stay in the room, so people have no choices to make because it is just their ignorance of universal causation that gives them the feeling of free will. Scientific determinism (biological determinism – human behaviour is controlled by an individual’s genes) Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and August Weismann (1834–1914) initially developed the theory that every living organism, which had evolved, had a genetic formula. Weismann called this genetic formula ‘determinants’, which would later become known as deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly shortened to DNA . Darwin had illustrated that human beings developed from the evolutionary process, therefore they must also have a genetic formula. The implications of the above are that human action is not free but is determined by their genetic formula. The above theory was developed considerably by the discovery of DNA. The discovery of DNA was a gradual process and had several important contributors including Nikolai Koltsov (1872–1940) and Frederick Griffith (1879–1941) but it wasn’t until James Watson (1928) and Francis Crick (1916–2004) developed the double-helix model of DNA structure in 1953, that this theory was universally accepted in the scientific community. It can be said that people are determined physically by their genes, i.e. the size of their nose, eye colour, etc. Moreover, there is a clear link between genetic faults and various physical and mental irregularities in human beings, e.g. a person born with Down’s syndrome. However, some scientists, generally referred to as ‘biological

John Locke

Key quotes Any other future set of outcomes than the one fixed from eternity is impossible. (James) Men believe themselves to be free, simply because they are conscious of their actions and unconscious of the causes. (Spinoza)

DRAFT

4.5 Explain why the analogy of the bedroom illustrates determinism.

Specification content Hard determinism: scientific (biological determinism – human behaviour is controlled by an individual’s genes).

Key term DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is the hereditary material in humans. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA

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