Free Will and Moral Responsibility
Free will - If a person has free will they can be held morally responsible. The ability to make
choices not determined by other factors.
Determinism - Everything that happens is the consequence of an antecedent state of affairs.
Soft Determinism - The person does not have complete control over every action, but can nonethe-
less be hold responsible for their actions.
Reductionism - Everything can be stripped down to separate parts, which links to hard determinism
as the separate parts are the causes and effects of antecedent events and actions.
Libertarianism - A rejection of determinism, they believe in free will.
Soft Libertarianism/Compatibilism - Some of our actions are determined but we are morally respon-
sible for some. Just because there have been antecedent events, does not mean we have no
moral choice.
Moral Responsibility - To be morally responsible requires a totally free human agent who is of con-
scious mind and has capability to make decisions.
Considerations of free will:
• Upbringing
• Genetics
• Psychological makeup
• Social pressures/contracts that they are a part of
Considerations of moral responsibility:
• Are they able to distinguish right from wrong?
• Have they lived long enough to acquire moral discretion?
• Are they suffering from severe mental health or learning difficulties?
• Are they under extreme pressure?
Becoming morally aware:
• We all have an innate moral sense (this may be affected by factors above) - David Hume be-
lieves we have an in-built ‘moral sense’ and faculty of sympathy - psychopaths?
• We learn right from wrong from social context - parents, society, morals reflected in law, cultural
and social traditions, which can lead to cultural relativism (FGM is a cultural tradition but is
morally wrong is western society
• Religious morality - arguably similar to social context and upbringing.
Do we have free will?
• Epicurus - The world is entirely physical and any event is, in theory, predictable given its circum-
stances and the natural forces involved. We have no control over nature and therefore have no
freedom of action.
• John Locke - Gives the analogy of a man who wakes up in a locked room and decides not to
leave. This raises the interesting question of whether he has free will, or if it’s just an illusion.
Theological Determinism:-
• If God is omniscient this would imply he knows everything, therefore God knows the future,
meaning we are predetermined.
• Aquinas - argues that God exists timelessly. He sees the results of our free choices in advance
but does not cause us to do them, therefore we are not predetermined and have free will. God
has the power to intervene but does not. There is no past, present or future for God, he sits out
of time.
Free will - If a person has free will they can be held morally responsible. The ability to make
choices not determined by other factors.
Determinism - Everything that happens is the consequence of an antecedent state of affairs.
Soft Determinism - The person does not have complete control over every action, but can nonethe-
less be hold responsible for their actions.
Reductionism - Everything can be stripped down to separate parts, which links to hard determinism
as the separate parts are the causes and effects of antecedent events and actions.
Libertarianism - A rejection of determinism, they believe in free will.
Soft Libertarianism/Compatibilism - Some of our actions are determined but we are morally respon-
sible for some. Just because there have been antecedent events, does not mean we have no
moral choice.
Moral Responsibility - To be morally responsible requires a totally free human agent who is of con-
scious mind and has capability to make decisions.
Considerations of free will:
• Upbringing
• Genetics
• Psychological makeup
• Social pressures/contracts that they are a part of
Considerations of moral responsibility:
• Are they able to distinguish right from wrong?
• Have they lived long enough to acquire moral discretion?
• Are they suffering from severe mental health or learning difficulties?
• Are they under extreme pressure?
Becoming morally aware:
• We all have an innate moral sense (this may be affected by factors above) - David Hume be-
lieves we have an in-built ‘moral sense’ and faculty of sympathy - psychopaths?
• We learn right from wrong from social context - parents, society, morals reflected in law, cultural
and social traditions, which can lead to cultural relativism (FGM is a cultural tradition but is
morally wrong is western society
• Religious morality - arguably similar to social context and upbringing.
Do we have free will?
• Epicurus - The world is entirely physical and any event is, in theory, predictable given its circum-
stances and the natural forces involved. We have no control over nature and therefore have no
freedom of action.
• John Locke - Gives the analogy of a man who wakes up in a locked room and decides not to
leave. This raises the interesting question of whether he has free will, or if it’s just an illusion.
Theological Determinism:-
• If God is omniscient this would imply he knows everything, therefore God knows the future,
meaning we are predetermined.
• Aquinas - argues that God exists timelessly. He sees the results of our free choices in advance
but does not cause us to do them, therefore we are not predetermined and have free will. God
has the power to intervene but does not. There is no past, present or future for God, he sits out
of time.
