Illusions

“Are We Free?”
Edited by John Baer, James C. Kaufman, & Roy F. Baumeister
Oxford University Press
UT PCL No. - BF 621 A74 2008 MAIN
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Chapter 3: Determined and Free
David G. Myers

What does the determinist assume about responses?
That they are lawfully related to the interplay of causal influences.

What does the indeterminist assume about responses?
Human behavior will exhibit some intrinsic unpredicatability. Humans are, at least to a modest extent, free agents, they are a partial first cause of their own actions.

Does determinism cause fatalism?
Determinism encourages us to action, not resignation. The stream to the future runs through our present acts. Our actions have effects; they help determine tomorrow’s world. Because the past cannot determine the future apart from the present, this lays a responsibility upon us.

What would happen if indeterminism described reality?
Indeterminism encourages us to inaction, resignation. If today’s events do not lead to tomorrow’s world, then nothing you or I can do will make a predictable difference.

Does determinism negate praise or blame?
Consider these examples: a person with a brain tumor who acts pathogenically as a result, the actions of those under the influence of alcohol, teens with immature frontal lobes and limited control of impulses from their faster developing limbic system, people with reactive temperaments, people who behave herocially while in favorable circumstances; to what should we attribute their behavior? The conditions that bred it, or the person who enacts it? Although determinism leaves us free to judge behavior as worthy of praise or censure, does it leave us similarly free to judge the person?

Where would credit be shifted if we knew the situation better?
To the conditions that brought them to act as they did. B.F. Skinner remarked that the defense of bad teaching is that it allows the student to be credited with learning. With good teaching, he went on to explain, we’re inclined to credit the teacher rather than the learner.

That is a somewhat one sided view though.
Human responsibility requires order and predictability, but also accountability for one’s choices and actions. This involves (a) deterministic influences and (b) the significance of human freedom, choice, and self-determination. Within the complexity of human nature, there is order. When combined and interacting, our biology, our past experience, and our current situation powerfully influence our actions.

How do evolutionary influences determine action?
We tend to fear snakes and spiders, to avoid heights and bitter-tasting foods, because such fears and behaviors help us survive. At the dawn of human history, our ancestors faced certain questions: Who is my ally, who my foe? What food should I eat? With whom should I mate?

How do genetic influences determine action?
Traits that range from general intelligence to temperament predispose conduct.

How does neurochemistry determine action?
Neuroscience studies reveal the tight bond of brain and mind, everything psychological, it appears, is simultaneously biological. A startling conclusion from some experiments, however, indicates that action sometimes precedes consciousness (described here as self-perceived freedom of the will). When we move a wrist at will, we consciously experience the decision to move about 0.2 seconds before the actual movement.

How do parental, peer, and cultural influences determine action?
Parents influence some areas of their children’s lives, such as their manners and political and religious beliefs, but in other areas, such as personality, siblings’ shared environment acounts for less than 10% of their differences. Peers more greatly influence the development of many behaviors and attitudes. Moreover, peers are just one facet of the wider culture which includes media influences as well. Behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people are transmitted from one generation to the next. Culture has a vastly determining power.

How do nonconscious influences determine action?
Most of our everday thinking, feeling, and acting operates outside conscious awareness, often “primed” by subtle influences. Our consciousness is biased to think that its own intentions and deliberate choices rule our lives, understandably, because tip-of-the-iceberg consciousness is aware only of its visible self.

Do systems of governing that enhance freedom promote health and happiness?
There is a deep seated need for autonomy and self-determination. If persons perceive little control over their lives, they are more likely to have a passive, helpless attitude. When feeling free and self-determined, we generally flourish.

Does the individual only have to perceive that they have freedom?
People benefit from experiencing freedom and from viewing themselves as free creatures. Similar to positive thinking; “if you think positive you will get positive results”, when we believe in the freedom to do something we are more likely to get it done.

What is the groundwork for self-discipline and self-initiative?
Viewing ourselves as free and responsible agents. If exaggerating our freedom is conducive to pride, then negating our freedom is conducive to sloth.

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