2. Be sure to complete the third reading assignment from the textbook: chapters 17 and 2. This introduces you to the philosophical problem of free will and determinism. The philosophy that we have free will, or libertarianism, is represented and argued by Rene Descartes, whereas the philosophy that we do not have free will (because everything is predetermined), or determinism, is represented and argued by Democritus.
3. Write a short essay (of several pages in length) in which you logically analyze and evaluate the following arguments for libertarianism and determinism, respectively. Analyzing an argument involves defining the key terms/concepts in the argument in order to show that you correctly understand the argument. Evaluating an argument involves judging it to be SOUND or not. A SOUND argument is one that is VALID and PREMISSARILY TRUE. Hence, evaluating an argument involves judging it to be VALID or not and PREMISSARILY TRUE or not. It is also important to explain why/how you made the judgments that you did about a given argument. This is all explained in the tutorials. Feel free to do some independent study in preparing to write your essay.
ARGUMENT 1
premise: A person can sometimes choose to act out of character.
conclusion: (Therefore,) we have free will. [libertarianism]
ARGUMENT 2
premise 1: If people had free will, then voluntary human behavior would be absolutely unpredictable.
premise 2: Voluntary human behavior is not absolutely unpredictable: it is relatively predictable based on background information.
conclusion: (Therefore,) we do not have free will (because everything is predetermined). [determinism]
