Short Essay of Four Views on Free Will

Essay on Four Views on Free Will

Name: Manon Pelleriaux

Student ID: T04302207

Question 1

Kane argues that "(1) the existence of alternative possibilities (AP) is a necessary condition for acting freely, and (2) determinism is not compatible with alternative possibilities". It is necessary that there are real alternatives for our actions, but that is not enough; our actions could be random without being in our control. The control is found in "ultimate responsibility" (UR). Ultimate responsibility entails that agents must be the ultimate creators (or originators) and sustainers of their own ends and purposes. There must be more than one way for a person's life to turn out (AP). In short, "an agent must be responsible for anything that is a sufficient reason (condition, cause or motive) for the action's occurring." What allows for ultimacy of creation in Kane's picture are what he refers to as "self-forming actions" or SFA’s — those moments of indecision during which people experience conflicting wills. These SFA’s are the undetermined, regress-stopping voluntary actions in the life histories of agents that are required for UR. UR does not require that every act done of our own free will be undetermined and thus that, for every act or choice, we could have done otherwise; it requires only that certain of our choices and actions be undetermined (and thus that we could have done otherwise), namely SFAs. These form our character or nature; they inform our future choices, reasons and motivations in action. If a person has had the opportunity to make a character-forming decision (SFA), he is responsible for the actions that are a result of his character. In this kind of choice, Kane has cleverly defeated the common objection made against indeterministic libertarian free will, that if chance is involved, the agent has no control and thus cannot be responsible for the action.

I can agree with Kane’s view on how there are actions or decisions in your life that have...