Philosophical Perspectives on Free Will, Personal Identity, and Moral Responsibility
Overview
This paper examines multiple philosophical theories concerning free will, personal identity, and moral responsibility through the work of key philosophers including D'Holbach, Frankfurt, Wolf, Hume, and Perry. The analysis explores determinism versus libertarian free will, the distinction between first-order and second-order desires, and the nature of personal identity across time and bodily change.
What this coursework covers
- D'Holbach's determinism: humans lack free will as actions are determined by nature and internal desires beyond individual control
- Frankfurt's hierarchical model: distinction between freedom of will and freedom of action, first-order and second-order desires
- Wolf's deep self-view: moral responsibility requires freedom from external forces and mental capacity to understand consequences
- Hume's personal identity: selfhood is incomprehensible as observation is incomplete and not all elements can be causally associated
- Perry's personal identity: explores whether identity persists through bodily or spiritual change using examples of objects and bodies
Preview
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Responses
D’Holbach
- Humans do not have free will because their actions are guided by nature and internal desires they cannot control.
- Humans are part of nature, and they cannot control it. There are universal laws that guide nature, and they are based on cause and effect theories. Humans cannot be part of life and exist outside by making their own decisions.
- Human desires are based on experiences and needs when their environments and situations shift than their willingness to act or think in a particular manner changes.
Frankfurt
- Will is the ability to make the same choices in the availability or absence of options. Freedom of will is the ability to choose between alternate possibilities. In contrast, freedom of action is the ability to decide on whether to act to not act to an absolute possibility. The former is a mental pursuit, while the latter is physical pursuit.
- First-order desire is a desire to have anything else other than a desire. A second-order desire is a desire for an actual desire. This is referred to as second-order violation when a person has the free will to choose the first-order desire.
Wolf
- Deep self-view is based on the principle that no external forces influence a person's decisions and actions. One has to possess and use power to have the trait of deep self-view. Other theories discussed are free will and sane deep self-view.
- A deeper self is the ability to have free will and be morally responsible for the action.