Ethics Finder

Free Choice / Will

It is fundamental to the idea of moral responsibility that human agents are capable of free choice because one cannot be reasonable blamed for something one could not do or could not refrain from doing. While it is generally recognised that they can be subject to psychological and physical compulsions, or have their power of choice undermined by indoctrination and intoxication, it is commonly believed that unless impeded they can choose to act or not to act. Against this stands the challenge of determinism, the claim that every event is caused by a prior event which necessitates its occurrence. If the action of raising one’s hand was caused by a prior event, and that by a prior event, etc. then the sources of the hand-raising quickly move beyond the agent and into the far past. Some advocates of freedom reject determinism, others try to reconcile some sense of choice with it.

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