Summary
Highlights
The video begins by introducing the mythical figure of Oedipus, whose life was foretold by a prophecy: he would kill his father and marry his mother. Despite efforts to escape this fate, Oedipus unknowingly fulfills the prophecy, highlighting the philosophical dilemma of whether we can truly escape what is predetermined.
Libertarian free will asserts that humans are capable of entirely free actions, feeling that our decisions are wholly our own. This view distinguishes itself from political libertarianism, focusing on metaphysical freedom. Key to this is the Principle of Alternate Possibilities, stating that an action is free only if the agent could have done otherwise. Libertarians account for this through 'agent causation,' where a being propelled by a mind can initiate a causal chain not caused by anything else.
Many philosophers find agent causation problematic, questioning the origin of these free decisions. If they are random, what compels a specific choice? If there's a reason, then the action is caused, not free. The strongest argument for libertarian free will is the subjective feeling of freedom, but philosophers caution against relying solely on feeling without further evidence.
Hard determinism, championed by thinkers like Baron D’Holbach, argues that none of our actions are truly free. Every event, including human actions, is the inevitable result of an unbroken chain of previous events, governed by cause and effect. This view is often explained through reductionism, where mental states (our choices) are ultimately biological and physical states, and the physical world is deterministic, leaving no room for free will.
Hard determinists explain human actions as the result of invisible causes in our brains, where beliefs, desires, and temperament combine to produce deliberate actions. Even seemingly random choices, like flipping a coin, are ultimately determined by prior factors. They argue that our subjective feeling of freedom is an illusion.
Hard determinism has uncomfortable implications: it negates the feeling of making free decisions and throws out the concept of personal responsibility. It suggests humans are mere 'cogs in a machine,' preordained to act as they do, much like Oedipus was destined to fulfill his prophecy.