Taylor, R. (1974). " Freedom and Determinism". In Metaphysics, second edition. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. (p.48 -51)
Also known as compatibilism is a view that tries to reconcile Determinism as a theory of Causality with the idea of human freedom.
Taylor presents three theses that characterizes soft determinism:
- Determinism is true = all human behavior is necessitated by the causal conditions that brings it about
- voluntary behavior is free = free actions is defined as those not constrained or impeded by external factors
- the causes of voluntary behavior are inner states of the acting agent = mental states = desires, choices, etc.
Soft determinism preserves human freedom by identifying a subset of causal chains as free related to inner states.
Definition of free actions by soft determinism
| example | free / unfree action | explanation |
|---|---|---|
| going to the store and buying a bag of chips | Free action | it was caused by the person’s internal state of desire and their internal decision |
| coming to a meeting half an hour late | unfree action | the internal states (desire to be on time, decision to go on time) was prevented by external circumstances (traffic etc.) |
Free actions are defined, according to soft determinism, as actions caused by the acting agent’s desire/choice/decision without external forces interfering.
unfree actions are actions caused by external circumstances which constrains or impedes on the acting agent’s desire/choice/decisions
Taylor’s critique of soft determinism
Taylor rejects this account of freedom for several reasons:
- No real deliberation or choice
- If soft determinism is true, deliberation is impossible and nothing is genuinely “up to me.”
- Since all internal states (desires, choices, decisions) are themselves causally determined, every decision you make is the only one you could have made given the causal preconditions.
- is incompatible with Taylor’s two considerations like Hard determinism
- No open options available (no truly free actions)
- Because your entire causal history fixes your desires and choices, there are never genuinely open options.
- All actions follow inevitably from prior conditions.
- Inadequate notion of freedom
- Soft determinism’s definition of freedom — “acting from your own internal states without external interference” — is far removed from our ordinary idea of freedom.
- Taylor argues this cannot count as real freedom in any meaningful sense, since it strips away the sense of genuine possibility or alternative choice.
He gives the following example for his argument:
”we can suppose that an ingenious Physiologist can induce butons on an induce in me any volition he pleases, simply by pushing various instrument to which, let us suppose, I am attached by numerous wires. All the volitions have in that situation are, accordingly, precisely the ones he gives me, By pushing one button, he evokes in me the volition to raise my hand; and my hand, being unimpeded, rises in response to that volition. By pushing another, he induces the volition in me to kick, and my foot, being unimpeded, kicks in response to that volition. We can even suppose that the physiologist puts a rifle in my hands, aims it at some passer-by, and to squeeze then, by pushing the proper button, evokes in me the volition my finger against the trigger, whereupon the passer-by falls dead of a bullet wound.” (p.51)
According to Taylor, this description fits the soft determinist definition but the person is in no sense free. Taylor calls it “It is the perfect description of a puppet.”
He gives another example of being administered drugs over time to form a compulsive desire for them. Does the person act freely, because the person acts from their internal state unimpeded? or is there something to be said about not choosing to have that desire inflicted. This demonstrates how impersonal causal factors beyond your control (hereditary factors, etc.) that determines desires/decisions/choices result in actions that doesn’t seem free.
Soft determinism reply to this is that since we clearly are physical and psychological beings in a causal world, maybe freedom is best understood as simply the absence of external constraints. We don’t exist in a causal vacuum and it is plausible and reasonable for our mental lives to be influenced by a causal background. Soft determinism doesn’t treat human behavior as exceptional in the way agency-theory does.