Hard determinism

• Epicurean philosophy aims to lead people to happy lives, where they are free from as much pain and fear as possible
• Epicurus anticipated utilitarianism
• Epicurus believed that the absence of pain is preferable to the experience of pleasure
• Epicurus lived a 'rampant' lifestyle
• Hard determinism states that no one has free will because everything has a prior cause
• Epicurus says we have no control over the forces of nature, therefore humans are not morally free because every situation is determined by a prior natural cause
• Hard determinism is based on 'universal causation', the idea that every event in the universe has a cause
• Every choice we make is the consequence of another actions
• Ethical choices do not exist according to hard determinism, as they are already determined
• Freedom is an illusion created by the complex processes in the brain
• We think we are making a free choice when we are actually running through a very complex calculation, the outcome of which is already determined
• Baruch Spinoza would say that the 'feeling of freedom' is actually ignorance
• Spinoza said we consider ourselves free because we are ignorant of all the causes operating upon us
• Psychologists say there are unconscious forces acting on every decision you make
• If you knew everything there is to know, you would understand that there are very good reasons behind why you make a decision
• Free will- the conviction that we are free to will something to happen over which we appear to have control- is factually incorrect
• We are determined by physical forces
• The limited nature of human awareness of these causes means we experience the process, by which we assess and register the infinite number of influences acting upon us, as free will
• Metaphysical freedom- the power of the self to choose between genuine alternatives
• Genuine alternatives- our actions are not in any way determined by a prior cause. If we are metaphysically free, then no factors (genes, environment) would mean our actions are determined
• Circumstantial freedom- the freedom to perform an action without interference from obstacles