DO WE HAVE FREE

WILL?
BY JENISE BROADHEAD
WHAT IS FREE WILL?

o Free will and political freedom are two separate things.

Political freedoms have to do with the country, and free will
has to do with the individual specifically.
o The definition of free will is the power to make decisions
without the constraint of fate.
o Free will and moral responsibility are linked. Individuals are
held accountable for their actions because they have the
power to make decisions independently.
LIBERTARIAN FREE WILL

• Libertarian free will and the libertarian view in politics are not
related.
• Libertarians believe that humans have the power to make
their own decisions without any constraints.
• Libertarians agree that the physical world is predetermined.
• Although they believe that the physical world is
predetermined, agents can make things happen on their own
due to event causation.
• It feels like we are free beings.
HARD DETERMINISM

• Hard determinists do not believe that free will exists.

• Everything is predetermined by our beliefs, desires, and
temperaments.
• Decisions are explained as mental thoughts lining up in
the right way to form an action.
• Randomness is predetermined just like decisions.
COMPATIBILISM “SOFT
DETERMINISM”
• A synthesis of libertarian free will and hard determinism
• The idea that the outcome of an action is predetermined but it
can be achieved through different actions.
• Compatibilists believe that certain actions and decisions can
be free. It depends on the amount of control the individual
has over the situation.
• Is an individual that cannot control their actions, such as
someone with mental illness, considered free?
WHY IS THIS SITUATION
HARD TO SOLVE?

• This situation is difficult because science cannot prove

whether humans have free will or not.
• Humans feel like they are free ,but in some scenarios, it
seems like decisions are determined by fate.
• If humans don’t have free will, what does that say about
moral responsibility?
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
THIS
• On the subject of free will, there are three main points of
view: libertarian free will, compatibilism, and hard
determinism.
• The world is built on the view that we all have free will and
personal accountability.
• Hard determinism does not think that anyone is morally
responsible for their choices because our decisions are already
determined.
• Compatibilism holds people morally responsible if they are in
control of the situation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Green, Hank. “Compatibilism: Crash Course Philosophy #25.” YouTube. PBS, August 22, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KETTtiprINU. 
• Green, Hank. “Determinism vs Free Will: Crash Course Philosophy #24.” YouTube. PBS, August 15, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCGtkDzELAI. 
• Mcleod, Saul. “Freewill vs Determinism.” Freewill and Determinism | Simply Psychology, 2019.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/freewill-determinism.html. 
• Roitman, Shai. “Agent Causation - Bibliography.” PhilPapers. Accessed December 12, 2021.
https://philpapers.org/browse/agent-causation. 
• Westacott, Emrys. “Hard Determinism Explained.” ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, January 17, 2018.
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-hard-determinism-2670648.