Freedom and Responsibility
A New Dynamism for Philosophy
Chapter 7. Freedom and Responsibility
Key Questions:
- What is free will and do we possess it?
- Does materialism support a defensible account of freedom or does it commit its adherents to determinism?
- Do Idealism or experience- based philosophies offer an account of freedom and responsibility that is independent of causal influence?
- What are moral judgements?
- What justifies us in making and enforcing them?
- How ought we to live our lives and to what purpose?
- Is there such a thing as objective moral truth and by what higher standards should we judge the legitimacy of authority?
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Summary of Conclusions: Freedom and Responsibility
Free will means a genuine freedom of choice that initiates an action from a selection of alternatives. There is a distinction between freely chosen and voluntary actions, but actions can only be deemed voluntary within a framework created by free choice.
Materialism cannot defend a freedom based on voluntary actions alone, and is unable to contribute to an understanding of moral responsibility. Idealism and other libertarian philosophies defend a freedom of choice in opposition to causal influences, but free actions become indistinguishable from those that are random or arbitrary and responsibility unavoidably attaches itself to every action.
These and other philosophies make the mistake of identifying freedom with the removal of causal influences, when these produce all actions. It is the question of whose influence produces an action that is most important question in deciding whether or not is free.
Dynamism brings together several conclusions from earlier chapters to offer a new perspective on freedom and responsibility. A dynamic conception of reality, where events are the product of causal influence, of consciousness as emerging from an ability to impose an agenda upon reality, of the self in which ownership underpins personal identity, and of truth that is attainable within an objective and knowable reality.
Together they offer a conception of freedom as the unencumbered execution of an authentic personal agenda. It is a freedom that doesn’t imply selfishness and is compatible with causal influence. Materialist attempts to undermine free choice rely upon a problematic conception of causality and an obsolete conception of scientific knowledge.
Predictability and causality are compatible with free choice. That all our actions are subject to biological/chemical/physical constraints or influence leaves human freedom unaffected because an action cannot be identified with one such state, so causal links between such states, if they are indeed sustainable, cannot be attached to actions.
Empiricism and Rationalism are sceptical about extending any absolute legitimacy or authority to moral judgements. Dynamism eschews the excessive reliance upon either intellect or emotion that respectively sustain their moral scepticism.
It reaffirms its distinction between subjective and objective and invokes its theory of truth to promote the view that moral judgements can make factual statements about social forces or pressure. Society is more influential and fundamental to individual interests and a sustainable ethical theory must subordinate individualism.
The interests of society are sovereign. Since free investigation is a necessary condition for attaining truth, a free society is the one best adapted to determine and devise the most effective means of realising its interests.
The judgements and decisions of a free society make a legitimate claim on the allegiance of its members. Its members likewise have an unqualified right to defend a free society and its interests.
This lays a foundation for an authentic moral code that will aim to ensure individual fulfilment by maximising opportunities for contributing to Society’s welfare.
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