Freedom, Autonomy, and Free Will “[T]he Actions of man are never free; they are always the necessary consequence of his temperament, of the received ideas, and of the notions, either true or false, which he has formed to himself of happiness.” –Paul Henri d’Holbach (1770) “Freedom means choosing your burden.” -Hephzibah Menuhin (1948) “Give me liberty or give me death!” –Patrick Henry [but not really…] (1775)

Freedom  “[It is] the presupposition of the good life” (p.218) Do you agree? Disagree?  “[It is] the logical prerequisite for morality and moral responsibility” (p.218) Why?  Are liberty, freedom and autonomy all the same or do they differ?

Two Traditions: Schizophrenic view of freedom  First School: Freedom is wonderful; freedom separates man from beasts [given by nature]; all sides fight for freedom [strive for]; Even the Nazis declared they were for it.  Contradictions in this school of thought?  Extrinsic Freedom (Freedom to take some action) vs. Intrinsic Freedom (the natural Free Will)  Second School: “Escape from Freedom”; Happiness or dignity? (contradicts liberalism [desires both])  Fear of freedom; decisions affect one’s entire life; humans are relieved when they don’t have to make a decision.  Sarte called this Bad Faith (from self)

Definitions  The absence of all (unreasonable) restraint in our movements, our speech, our beliefs and our activities. (p.219)  Negative Definition: Freedom from (oppression)  Can you think of an example?  Positive Definition: Freedom to do or have  Can you think of an example?

Types of Freedom Social Freedom: Freedom is achieved with others. Freedom to participate in relationships, in society and freedom from factors that prevents this. Rational Freedom: Freedom is achieved through careful thought and deliberation. Less planning/thinking, the less free the action is Emotional Freedom: Freedom is found in emotional expression and emotional fulfillment. Acting on an emotion would be a free action. Capricious Freedom: Following rules or reason or emotion is following others. Only by acting on mere whim can one truly be free.

“American” Freedom (p.222) “When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.” –Eric Hoffer 1955  Is America founded on values of Freedom and individualism?  Is America founded on values of community and moral conformity? Respond to one of the following Quotes

Determinism  What is Determinism (p.219)?  Soft Determinism vs. Hard Determinism  How is it related to Universal Causality?  “Fascism is for liberty,…the only liberty which can be a real thing, the liberty of the State and of the individual within the state.” (emphasis added) -Benito Mussolini (1934)

“Thus there are no accidents in a life, a community event which suddenly bursts forth and involves me does not come from the outside. If I am mobilized in a war, this war is my war; it is in my image and I deserve it. I deserve it first because I could always get out of it by suicide or by desertion; these ultimate possibilities are those which must always be present for us when there is a question of envisaging a situation. For lack of getting out of it, I have chosen it. This can be due to inertia, to cowardice in the face of public opinion or because I prefer certain other values to the value of refusal to join in the war (the good opinion of my relatives, the honor of my family, etc.). Any way you look at it, it is a matter of a choice. This choice will be repeated later on again and again without a break until the end of the war.” -Jean-Paul Sartre “[I]f we knew the person thoroughly, and knew all the inducements which are acting upon him, we could foretell his conduct with as much certainty as we can predict any physical event…No one who believed that he know thoroughly the circumstances of any case, and the characters of the different persons concerned, would hesitate to foretell how all of them would act. [B]y no means…could [there] be any uncertainty what the conduct would be. Nor does this full assurance conflict in the smallest degree with what is called our feeling of freedom. We do not feel ourselves the less free because those to whom we are intimately known are well assured how we shall will to act in a particular case.” –John Stuart Mill “Whoever refuses to obey the general will [of the people] shall be constrained to do so by the whole society; this means nothing else than that he shall be forced to be free.” -Jean-Jacques Rousseau