Determinism, Compatibilism and Libertarianism - Essay Example

Determinism, Compatibilism and Libertarianism Introduction Philosophy comes with many questions and their answers given by the philosophers after a deep thought on the human mind and the causation of events. One of the questions that come in the mind of many deep thinkers is that do we have a free will, or our actions are determined. There is a doctrine of free will and a view that individuals are always in control. But the philosophical determination has a different approach. It states that neither we are in control nor we are subjected to free will. In simpler words, determinism is the belief that everything that happens has causes, and if the causes of different events are the same, the effects must also be the same. However, relating it to the human behavior, determinism means that everything is predicted, even the decision making process of every human mind on the same events. For a determinist, the causes are what will bring down the human mind to do what it actually does (Pettit, 2001). Compatibilists (or soft-determinists) suggest that determinism is compatible with human freedom. Compatibilism states that there is a casual connection between our wills and our actions. This means that we can take the responsibility of our actions without being controlled. Compatibilism identifies the concept of free will for every human’s mind and the freedom of action in which every human reacts. It focuses on the free will of a human, as free will and freedom of actions is different from each other. Compatibilism can be defined as the presence of free will in situations that have nothing to do with metaphysics. This means that under this philosophical concept, the humans can have the freedom to act according to their free will to their determined motives without being hindered by another individual. Free will has to be the necessary condition of the moral responsibility of any action. Thus, compatibilism can be defined in terms of the compatibility of the moral responsibility and the determination of the freedom act (Pettit, 2001). Libertarianism clearly suggests that the freedom of an individual is the most important thing that must underlie all the social, economic and political relations. Libertarians strongly believe that the state does not hold the right to intervene in the goals and decisions that have to be made by the individuals. They do not hold the responsibility to help the firms or the agriculture, in fact their role is to protect the individual’s rights and give the freedom of perusing their own goals to the individuals (Smith, 1996). In the same way, libertarians do not only preach freedom in matters involving state, it also suggests that an individual has the freedom to live and do what he likes to, whether it is taking drugs or involving themselves in any type of activity which they should not. Every individual should have the right and freedom to do what they like without the intervention of laws or the police. Libertarianism suggests equality between all the people and supports the fact that every individual has the right to do what he wants to as long as he is protecting other’s rights. Determinism discovers the hidden causes of the human behavior and relates it to the natural world. It suggests that the human behavior and decision making depends greatly on the natural causes that leads them to behave in that way. On the other hand, compatibilism argues that determinism is compatible with human freedom. Humans have a free will to do what they like without being interfered. In contrast to both of these concepts, libertarianism suggests that a human has the freedom to do what he likes and set his goals according to his own beliefs and will. He should not be interfered by the state or the laws (Masse, 2000). All the three concepts are part of the philosophical approach studying the human behavior and the human mind. It relates to the human behavior according to their will and freedom of actions. Philosophers have suggested and argued in contrast of the three concepts showing the position of the human mind in different visions. Every concept that relates to the philosophy of the human brain has strengths and weaknesses that can help us in deciding whether which one of the concept is the most suitable. The strengths of determinism are that it follows the views of physics. It closely relates to the practicality of physics, as in physics we think that the material world is governed and ruled by laws. These laws give us the maximum information about an object and other relevant objects to that which are the laws of nature etc. This information gives us the advantage of knowing what will happen to the object in the future, and we can make predictions. In the same way, humans are the aggregates of matter and are therefore subjected to the same laws. Thus, our behaviors should be determined and predicted by the properties of matter that we are made up of. It also gives the concept about the importance of every human being in the world. Moreover, determinism suggests that no matter the behavior was a fault or not, the actions are predetermined and thus cannot be blamed. The weakness of the concept of determinism is that a person cannot act except under the assumption of free will. In this matter, choice seems to be the moral philosophy, like we can not punish somebody on something that they did not choose to do. Another weakness is that the human mind does not have any control over what happens to it. On the other hand, determinism suggests that everything has already been happened. There is nothing new, interesting or exciting. It shows that all the behaviors and actions are just a repeat of what has happened before, and does not even necessarily have a happy ending. The strength of the compatibilism based on the reason is that it provides a basis for the universal and enforceable laws. The causes behind our choices are hidden and unknown to the people around us. These choices are flown by our desires and are ours alone. They are not determined by any other factor. This gives us a sense of moral responsibility and a certain degree of responsibility (McKenna, 2008). Without compatibilism, we would never realize our responsibilities for our choices and our choices would be totally random as they would be uncaused. It also gives us the moral right to punish people. Thus, this will enable us to protect society and provide justice. There is a contradiction of the terms used in this concept as to how a person can be both free and determined at the same time. This view can be attacked by many of the theorists who address the question of free will. This is the main weakness that the theory and the logic can be attacked. It is further argued to be a weak theory as it claims that we have moral responsibility, though there is no justice in blaming people for their choice of action (McKenna, 2008). The arguments for and against libertarianism can be easily defended. The strength that is seen is that libertarianism shows real democracy in which people are free to live and can make their own free choices in their matters without intervention from the state or the laws. This is a positive point for the concept of libertarianism as it allows the humans to make their own choices according to their will (Smith, 1996). This concept believes highly in the personal and economical freedom of the people, and allows many acceptable actions by individuals and businesses. Not only are the personal choices, people also are free to make their own business and economic choices. In this way everybody would have an opportunity for a job and they will be able to try out their ideas in the businesses. The concept of libertarianism states that all action that causes no harm to any other party is acceptable. Furthermore, even though libertarianism has weaknesses, they can easily be defended. As the concept is based upon the individual’s decisions and their capabilities to do something, this means that the ones, who are less able to succeed, won’t. There will be equal level of poverty and wealth. No government means that the businesses of those who have strong tactics and investment will flourish and the small firms will stay behind. Unemployment may be high as the firms will be making their own decisions and lack of government means that people will find it way too difficult to get back to work. Although there are private charities that have replaced the need for government programs and assistance, there can be problems arising. In my opinion, libertarianism is most likely to be correct as it gives chances to all the individuals to carry out their personal freedom of choice and action. This will enable all the individuals to come up with their capabilities and not rely on government or other social programs for support. Free will and the freedom of actions is very important and helps a person to expand and grow individually and as well as a society, thus libertarianism is the most likely to be correct concept. References Masse M. (2000). What is Libertarianism. London: Libertarian Party of Monterey County McKenna M. (2008). ‘Recent Work on Moral Responsibility’, Philosophy Compass, 4: 96–133 Pettit P. (2001). A Theory of Freedom: From the Psychology to the Politics of Agency, New York: Oxford University Press. Smith M. (1996). ‘Freedom in Belief and Desire’, Journal of Philosophy. 76 (5): 243– 256 Read More