Analytic Philosophy After Dark
Welcome to the inaugural Analytic Philosophy After Dark!
We’re planning on hosting a meetup every week or two to casually discuss analytic philosophy over drinks and/or food.
This week, join us for a discussion about the compatibility of free will and determinism. We’ll be discussing Frankfurt Cases, thought experiments that aim to show that it is easy to imagine circumstances where agents can act freely but do not have the ability to do otherwise.
One case comes from John Locke, in which he asks us to imagine a man in a room that is locked from the outside without his knowledge. The man chooses to stay in the room. It seems that his choice is free, but he does not have the ability to do otherwise because the door is locked.
Possible discussion questions:
Do you think cases like this show that the ability to do otherwise is not necessary for free will?
Are judgments about moral responsibility relevant for free will?
Is disagreement over free will ultimately linguistic? Metaphysical? Moral?
Does determinism imply we don’t have the ability to do otherwise?
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