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Free Will

Criticising Strawson’s Compatibilism

Nurana Rajabova is wary of an attempt to dismiss determinism to keep free will.

The belief that human beings have moral responsibility is used to judge people based on their actions, then to reward or punish them accordingly. But is this just?

This question becomes unavoidable when the theory of determinism enters the discussion. Determinists claim that every event or occurrence in the world, including human desires, thoughts, and acts, are predetermined by physical laws of cause and effect. In such a world there is no space for free will, since any person’s action at any time could not have been different, if all the physical conditions causing it remain the same. As there is no human free will, say the determinists, there can be no moral responsibility either.

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