Deck 9: Do We Have Free Will?

Question 1

To say that a calculator is "deterministic" means that

A) given the same input, the calculator will perform the same calculations, in the same order, and then produce the same output, leaving nothing to chance.
B) given the same input, the calculator will perform the same calculations, in the same order, and then produce the same output, except insofar as chance interferes.
C) given any input at all input, the calculator will perform the same calculations, in the same order, and then produce the same output, leaving nothing to chance.
D) given any input at all input, the calculator will perform the same calculations, in the same order, and then produce the same output, except insofar as chance interferes.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

According to determinists, the laws of physics are deterministic and govern

A) everything.
B) everything beyond the subatomic level.
C) everything except the actions of human beings.
D) everything except the actions of living creatures.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

__________ imagined a supernatural "demon," with unlimited memory, an unlimited ability to calculate, and a complete knowledge of the laws of physics, who, given a complete description of the world at some particular time, could figure out the whole subsequent course of history-including all human actions.

A) Plato
B) Descartes
C) Newton
D) Pierre-Simon Laplace

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Regarding "chance" events, such as dice rolls and coin flips, a determinist will claim

A) we can predict the outcomes of these events precisely, so they are not properly "chance" events at all.
B) we cannot currently predict the outcomes of these events, but this is only because our abilities to calculate and measure are limited.
C) we will never be able to predict the outcomes of these events, because we are limited by our merely human minds.
D) even God could not predict such chance events.

Question 5

Owing to the belief in deterministic physics during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the solar system was sometimes compared to a(n)

A) firmly grounded building.
B) animal with interrelated parts.
C) giant clock.
D) well-functioning city.

Question 6

It is now considered an open question whether the laws of physics are deterministic, owing to the influence of the

A) Copernican revolution.
B) Newtonian revolution.
C) quantum revolution.
D) communist revolution.

Question 7

According to the text, in contrast to the merely apparent "chance" character of dice rolls or coin flips, some quantum physicists believe __________ is/are a genuinely random process.

A) the origin of life
B) radioactive decay
C) Einstein-Rosen bridges
D) All of the above

Question 8

The belief in free will is rejected by

A) quantum theorists.
B) soft determinists.
C) hard determinists.
D) libertarians.

Question 9

Which of the following is an aspect of what we have in mind when we say that we have "free will"?

A) You have a number of different options before you.
B) You are, to some extent, in control of which option you chose.
C) You are responsible for your choice.
D) All of the above

Question 10

Even granting that we have free will, the text admits which of the following is an example of how we might not always be in control of ourselves?

A) Someone with a bad habit inculcated over many years.
B) Someone addicted to smoking.
C) Someone having an epileptic seizure.
D) Someone in the throes of passion.

Question 11

Determinism is particularly threatening to the idea that

A) we are responsible for what we do-that is, that we are at fault for the things we do wrong or deserve credit for the good things we do.
B) God exists and is the cause of the universe.
C) there is an afterlife-that is, heaven and hell.
D) All of the above

Question 12

__________ defended hard determinism by stating: "Man is a purely physical being. . . . [He is] subject to . . . immutable laws. . . . Man's life is a line that Nature commands him to describe upon the surface of the earth: without his ever being able to swerve from it even for an instant. He is born without his own consent [and] he is unceasingly modified by causes, whether visible or concealed, over which he has no control. . . . Nevertheless, despite of the shackles by which he is bound, it is pretended he is a free agent, or that independent of the causes by which he is moved, he determines his own will; regulates his own condition."

A) William James
B) Baron d'Holbach
C) Immanuel Kant
D) David Hume

Question 13

Philosophers who suggested that we have free will even though determinism is true are known as

A) quantum theorists.
B) soft determinists.
C) hard determinists.
D) libertarians.

Question 14

__________ defended soft determinism by stating: "By 'liberty,' then, we can only mean a power of acting or not acting according to the determinations of the will; i.e. if we choose to stay still we may do so, and if we choose to move we may do that."

A) William James
B) Baron d'Holbach
C) Immanuel Kant
D) David Hume

Question 15

When Hume said that a free person acts "according to the determinations of the will," he meant that a free person's actions are a result of

A) radical, metaphysical freedom.
B) a will determined by the universal laws of physics.
C) her decisions, in pursuit of what she desires.
D) All of the above

Question 16

Hume believes that a person is free to the extent she meets which of the following condition(s)?

A) The person is acting in pursuit of what she desires, and her actions are a result of her own decisions.
B) There are no obstacles in the person's way, which prevent her from acting as she chooses.
C) Both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 17

Which condition(s) not obtaining led Hume to believe that the movements of an epileptic person having a seizure aren't free?

A) The person is acting in pursuit of what he desires, and his actions are a result of his own decisions.
B) There are no obstacles in the person's way, which prevent him from acting as he chooses.
C) Both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 18

Which condition(s) not obtaining led Hume to believe that the movements of a prisoner aren't free?

A) The prisoner is acting in pursuit of what she desires, and her actions are a result of her own decisions.
B) There are no obstacles in the prisoner's way, which prevent her from acting as she chooses.
C) Both a and b
D) None of the above

Question 19

__________ rejected determinism by stating: "Determinism, in denying that anything else can be in its stead, virtually defines the universe as a place in which what ought to be is impossible,-in other words, as an organism whose constitution is afflicted with an incurable taint, an irremediable flaw."

A) William James
B) Baron d'Holbach
C) Immanuel Kant
D) David Hume

Question 20

Philosophers who think that determinism is false and that (in part for this reason) we are capable of free action are known as

A) quantum theorists.
B) soft determinists.
C) hard determinists.
D) libertarians.

Question 21

Scientific libertarians think that

A) hard and soft determinism are false.
B) there is randomness in our neural processes, similar to the randomness in contemporary physics, so that our decision-making is not deterministic.
C) because our decisions are indeterministic, we are, in part, free.
D) All of the above

Question 22

Libertarianism has been criticized in which of the following ways?

A) Precisely because libertarians characterize actions as caused in part by random events in our brains, it would seem we are neither in charge of what we do nor responsible for our actions.
B) Precisely because libertarians characterize actions as caused in part by random events in our brains, no arguments can support or refute such a position.
C) Precisely because libertarians characterize actions as caused in part by random events in our brains, there is no way of knowing which of our actions are free and which determined.
D) All of the above

Question 23

__________ claimed that we each have a nonphysical, "transcendental" self, that is outside space and time, is ungoverned by the laws of physics, and makes free decisions for which we are morally responsible.

A) William James
B) Baron d'Holbach
C) Immanuel Kant
D) David Hume

Question 24

Explain determinism making use of Laplace's demon.

Question 25

Describe Hume's position on free will, focusing on the two conditions he thinks must be met for the will to be free.

Question 26

Explain scientific libertarianism, focusing on whether it can or cannot accommodate each of the three features of human decision-making required for free will.

Question 27

William James found determinism disturbing because it seemed to entail that all the horrors of the past were inevitable. Explain how libertarianism can respond to James's worry?

Question 28

After setting forth each position, compare and contrast scientific libertarianism and radical libertarianism.