Free Will

David Sanson

2026-09-28

Preliminaries

Agenda

  1. Preliminaries
  2. Free Will and Desire
  3. Free Will and Determinism
  4. Reflection

Reminders

  • For today and next time, we are discussing Chapter 5, “No Freedom”
  • I am working on your exams. I will return them with comments.

Free Will and Desire

Agenda

  1. Preliminaries
  2. Free Will and Desire
  3. Free Will and Determinism
  4. Reflection

The Argument for Freedom

Argument

  • FR1. Sometimes you perform an action after deciding to perform that action.
  • FR2. If one performs an action after deciding to perform it, then one performs that action freely.
  • FR3. So some of your actions are performed freely.

Evaluating FR2

Argument

  • FR2. If one performs an action after deciding to perform it, then one

HYPNOTIC ACTION

Tia is on the run from the law and knows the cops are hot on her trail. She is also a master hypnotist. As she passes Jordan on the street, she hypnotizes him and plants an irresistible post-hypnotic suggestion: whenever he hears someone shout Freeze! he will fall into a hypnotic trance and tackle the person who said it. Just then, Kabir the cop arrives on the scene, sees Tia, shouts Freeze!, and Jordan tackles him.

Evaluating FR2

Argument

  • FR2. If one performs an action after deciding to perform it, then one

HYPNOTIC DECISION

Tia is on the run from the law and knows the cops are hot on her trail. She is also a master hypnotist. As she passes Colton on the street, she hypnotizes him and plants an irresistible post-hypnotic suggestion: whenever he hears someone shout Freeze! he will grow very angry with the person, decide to tackle them, and then tackle them. Just then, Kabir the cop arrives on the scene, sees Tia, and shouts Freeze! As a result of the hypnotic suggestion, Colton gets angry at Kabir, consciously decides to tackle him, and then tackles him.

The Desire Argument

Argument

  • DS1. What you choose to do is always determined by your desires.
  • DS2. What desires you have is not something that is in your control.
  • DS3. So, what you choose to do is always determined by something you can’t control.
  • DS4. If what you choose to do is always determined by something you can’t control, then you never act freely.
  • DS5. So, you never act freely.

Against DS1

Suppose your alarm goes off early in the morning, waking you up for your 8am class. Your bed is so cozy; your hangover, so vicious. There is no part of you that wants to get out of bed. And yet, somehow, you drag yourself out of bed and get to class.

The Argument from Undesired Action

  • UA1. Your desire to stay in bed was stronger than your desire to get out of bed.
  • UA2. If your desire to stay in bed was stronger than your desire to get out of bed, then what you choose to do is not always determined by your desires.
  • UA3. So, what you choose to do is not always determined by your desires.

Against D2

Argument

  • DS2. You can’t control your desires.

Even if I didn’t choose my desires, I can take steps to change them. So I have indirect control over them.

Against D2

The Argument from Desire-Defeating Action

  • DD1. Some of your desires can be changed by performing desire-defeating actions.
  • DD2. If some of your desires can be changed by performing desire-defeating actions, then you can control some your desires.
  • DD3. So, you can control some of your desires.

Free Will and Determinism

Agenda

  1. Preliminaries
  2. Free Will and Desire
  3. Free Will and Determinism
  4. Reflection

Determinism

Determinism
Everything that’s happening now and that will happen in the future was already guaranteed to happen by things that happened in the distant past.

Determinism

Physical Necessitation
One state of the universe physically necessitates some other state if and only if it is logically impossible for the one to occur without the other occurring, given the laws of nature.
Determinism
All present and future states of the universe are physically necessitated by states of the universe in the distant past (before any of us were born).

The Argument from Determinism

Argument

  • DT1. Determinism is true.
  • DT2. If determinism is true, then you are never able to do otherwise.
  • DT3. If you are never able to do otherwise, then none of your actions are free.
  • DT4. So, none of your actions are free.

DT1 and the Doomed Regardless Argument

Argument

  • DM1. If an action is determined to happen, then you couldn’t have done otherwise.
  • DM2. If you couldn’t have done otherwise, then the action is not free.
  • DM3. So, if an action is determined to happen, then it is not free.
  • DM4. If an action happens randomly, then it is not free.
  • DM5. Every action you perform is either determined to happen or happens randomly.
  • DM6. So, none of your actions are free.

DT2 and the Consequence Argument

Argument

  • CQ1. If determinism is true, then what you do is always a consequence of the laws of nature and the distant past.
  • CQ2. You have no control over the laws of nature or the distant past
  • CQ3. So, if determinism is true, then what you do is always a consequence of things over which you have no control.
  • CQ4. If what you do is always a consequence of things over which you have no control, then you are never able to do otherwise
  • DT2. So, if determinism is true, you are never able to do otherwise.

Against DT3: HYPNOTIC BACKUP

Argument

  • DT3. If you are never able to do otherwise, then none of your actions are free.

Example

Tia the master hypnotist is on the run from the law and hires Clay to tackle any cop who turns up. Concerned that Clay might betray her, Tia gives Clay an irresistible post-hypnotic suggestion to tackle any cop he sees, but which will kick in only if she triggers it by shouting Abracadabra! When Kabir the cop arrives on the scene, Tia keeps a watchful eye on Clay to see if he’s going to back out. But Clay comes through: he decides to tackle Kabir all on his own, without Tia having to trigger the post-hypnotic suggestion that would have forced him to tackle Kabir.

The Argument from Determined Decision

Argument

  • DT1. Determinism is true.
  • DT2*. If determinism is true, then you are never able to decide to do otherwise.
  • DT3*. If you are never able to decide to do otherwise, then none of your actions are free.
  • DT4. So, none of your actions are free.

Reflection

Agenda

  1. Preliminaries
  2. Free Will and Desire
  3. Free Will and Determinism
  4. Reflection

Reflection Questions

  1. Premise DS1 of the Desire Argument says that what you choose to do is always determined by your desires. But isn’t what you choose to do also at least partly determined by your beliefs? For instance, whether your desire for Taco Bell causes you to go to Taco Bell depends in part on whether you believe that Taco Bell is open for business. Can this observation about the influence of beliefs be used to challenge to Desire Argument?
  2. Can the Argument from Undesired Actions be defended against the objections raised? Are there better examples of undesired actions, which escape the objections?
  3. Premise DM5 of the Doomed Regardless Argument says that every action is either determined to happen or random. Is there really no middle ground?
  4. Can the HYPNOTIC BACKUP case cannot be revised to serve as a counterexample to DT3* of the Argument from Determined Decisions?