The Problem of Free Will

A talk given by professor Pamela Hieronymi on the problem of free will and moral responsibility a few years back at the University of Alabama.

"Among the grandest of philosophical puzzles is a riddle about moral responsibility. Almost all of us believe that each one of us is, has been, or will be responsible for at least some of our behavior. But how can this be so if determinism is true and all our thoughts, decisions, choices, and actions are simply droplets in a river of deterministic events that began its flow long, long before we were ever born? The specter of determinism, as it were, devours agents, for if determinism is true, then arguably we never initiate or control our actions; there is no driver in the driver's seat; we are simply one transitional link in an extended deterministic chain originating long before our time. The puzzle is tantalizingly gripping and ever so perplexing — because even if determinism is false, responsibility seems impossible: how can we be morally accountable for behavior that issues from an 'actional pathway' in which there is an indeterministic break? Such a break might free us from domination or regulation by the past, but how can it possibly help to ensure that the reins of control are now in our hands?" Ishtiyaque Haji

#Philosophy #FreeWill #Determinism

[Cotagoras]

What a shame you lost most of your content, I hope to see you grow again.

Saludos desde Chile.

[mitscientifica]

“Man is condemned to be free.”

-Jean-Paul Sartre

[hammerdureason]

freedom/will are mythical constructs thus are functions of imagination from which emerge desire. this is a unconscious process driven by the historical milieu we find ourselves in. the individual is the set of desires/preferences we identify ourselves with and the will is the application of the set of chosen techniques & behaviors to actualize ourselves/desires -- which can be simultaneously aligned & in conflict with our desires/sense of self. there exists some process -- a kind of sorting/wondering wandering one's self out from the default unconsciously constructed/manufactured imagination one find themselves with. for the most part -- I find technology, especially when fetish-ized, a hindrance.

[mdl]

To walk or not to walk.
That is the question...

[iamwillmason]

Nice... be brilliant, br beatiful... sign me up for this course! Superb communication skills!!:)

[EnSabahNur-irmw]

WTF she can't say a single word without that script. This proves she has no freewill

[williamchami]

The first seven seconds of this video is a misrepresentation of the classical Christian position on the soul. The description of the soul as a "ghost in a machine" is derived from the patrimony of Cartesian dualism and modern mechanistic science, not from Christianity in general or from Thomistic Philosophy in particular.

[Donteatacowman]

I have strong opinions about this born from lots of shower thoughts, but that just means I have more opportunity for error lol, so I guess I better listen.