Which single challenge to free will is strongest in your view?
The single greatest challenge that we have, in my opinion, against free will is determinism. Determinism poses a double-sided problem. It states that if determinism is true then free will is merely a figment of our imagination. Inversely, if determinism is false then free will is meaningless. This is the most challenging to free will because it gives logical reasoning to the impossibilities of free will regardless of determinism being true or false.
1. Agent-control is the main issue for free will under this argument. If life is pre-determined then there is no agent control at all. If life is random, the agent still has no control and therefore leaving said agent
without free will.
2. Which single defense of free will is strongest in your view?
I believe that the strongest argument for the defense of free will is compatibilism. This is the idea that if determinism is false then free will is arbitrary is a true statement. Compatibilism argues that determinism is necessary for free will. Dew and Gould tell us ‘All that is required for freedom, says the compatibilist, is the “agent’s unhindered ability to do [or choose] what he
wants.’
3. Is free will an essential attribute of human personhood?
According to Dew and Gould, Lynn Rudder Baker’s studies say that personhood requires two distinct qualities. The first quality is “intentional states,” such as desires, intentions, and planning. The second quality is “first-person perspective.” This is the quality of being able to “realize that it is I who has such desires, intentions, and plans.”
4. Based on these thoughts, I would say that free will is an essential part of personhood. While an animal may not be able to have a metacognitive experience, they are able to plan, intend, and plan. Take the wolf for instance, he is hungry therefore desires food. Since he desires food, he intends to kill prey so that he may fulfill that desire. He then plans his attack and separates the weakest of the prey from the strongest so that he may kill and eat. As humans what sets us apart from that wolf is that we are able to choose whether or not we want to fulfill a desire. A married person may feel a sexual desire for someone outside of their marriage, but they can make the choice to be committed and ignore a desire for moral reasons. If we lose free will we lose morality and are left to follow our instincts like an animal.
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