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For information on how to proceed, first see the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful. Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked You can view and copy the source of this page: ===Free will, determinism, and responsibility=== Hume, along with [[Thomas Hobbes]], is cited as a classical compatibilist about the notions of [[free will|freedom]] and [[determinism]].{{sfn|McKenna|Coates|2015|loc=Ch. 3}}{{sfn|Russell|1995}} ''[[Compatibilism]]'' seeks to reconcile human freedom with the mechanist view that human beings are part of a deterministic universe, which is completely governed by [[physical law]]s. Hume, on this point, was influenced greatly by the scientific revolution, particularly by [[Isaac Newton|Sir Isaac Newton]].{{sfn|Wright|2010|p= ?}} Hume argued that the dispute between freedom and determinism continued over 2000 years due to ambiguous terminology. He wrote: "From this circumstance alone, that a controversy has been long kept on foot…we may presume that there is some ambiguity in the expression," and that different disputants use different meanings for the same terms.{{sfn|Hume|1777|p=81}}{{sfn|Passmore|2013|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vZRtAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA73&dq=hume+presume+that+there+is+some+ambiguity&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3zSMVOvlJYnyULWZhPgP&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=hume%20presume%20that%20there%20is%20some%20ambiguity&f=false p. 73]}} Hume defines the concept of necessity as "the uniformity, observable in the operations of nature; where similar objects are constantly conjoined together,"{{sfn|Hume|1777|p=82}} and [[liberty]] as "a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will."{{sfn|Hume|1777|p=95}} He then argues that, according to these definitions, not only are the two compatible, but liberty ''requires'' necessity. For if our actions were not necessitated in the above sense, they would "have so little in connexion with motives, inclinations and circumstances, that one does not follow with a certain degree of uniformity from the other." But if our actions are not thus connected to the will, then our actions can never be free: they would be matters of "chance; which is universally allowed to have no existence."{{sfn|Hume|1777|p=96}} Australian philosopher [[John Passmore]] writes that confusion has arisen because "necessity" has been taken to mean "necessary connexion." Once this has been abandoned, Hume argues that "liberty and necessity will be found not to be in conflict one with another."{{sfn|Passmore|2013|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vZRtAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA73&dq=hume+presume+that+there+is+some+ambiguity&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3zSMVOvlJYnyULWZhPgP&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=hume%20presume%20that%20there%20is%20some%20ambiguity&f=false p. 73]}} Moreover, Hume goes on to argue that in order to be held [[morally responsible]], it is required that our behaviour be caused or necessitated, for, as he wrote:{{sfn|Hume|1777|p=98|ps=, original emphasis}}
Actions are, by their very nature, temporary and perishing; and where they proceed not from some ''cause'' in the character and disposition of the person who performed them, they can neither redound to his honour, if good; nor infamy, if evil.
Hume describes the link between causality and our capacity to rationally make a decision from this an inference of the mind. Human beings assess a situation based upon certain predetermined events and from that form a choice. Hume believes that this choice is made spontaneously. Hume calls this form of decision making the liberty of spontaneity.{{sfn|Mounce|Mounce|2002|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qyepEVWo0v8C&pg=PA66&dq=hume+liberty+of+spontaneity&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bjeMVOKlG4L6UJe1gNgL&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=hume%20liberty%20of%20spontaneity&f=false p. 66]}} Education writer Richard Wright considers that Hume's position rejects a famous moral puzzle attributed to French philosopher [[Jean Buridan]]. The [[Buridan's ass]] puzzle describes a donkey that is hungry. This donkey has separate bales of hay on both sides, which are of equal distances from him. The problem concerns which bale the donkey chooses. Buridan was said to believe that the donkey would die, because he has no [[autonomy]]. The donkey is incapable of forming a rational decision as there is no motive to choose one bale of hay over the other. However, human beings are different, because a human who is placed in a position where he is forced to choose one loaf of bread over another will make a decision to take one in lieu of the other. For Buridan, humans have the capacity of autonomy, and he recognises the choice that is ultimately made will be based on chance, as both loaves of bread are exactly the same. However, Wright says that Hume completely rejects this notion, arguing that a human will spontaneously act in such a situation because he is faced with impending death if he fails to do so. Such a decision is not made on the basis of chance, but rather on necessity and spontaneity, given the prior predetermined events leading up to the predicament.{{sfn|Wright|2010|p= ?}} Hume's argument is supported by modern-day compatibilists such as [[R. E. Hobart]], a pseudonym of philosopher Dickinson S. Miller.See e.g. {{harvtxt|Hobart|1934|p=?}} and {{harvtxt|Carroll|Markosian|2010|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=f6bcZq4_4gUC&pg=PA54&dq=hume+hobart+Free+Will+as+Involving&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vjiMVJalEcjzUIu6gdgL&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=hume%20hobart%20Free%20Will%20as%20Involving&f=false p. 54, note 11]}} However, [[P. F. Strawson]] argued that the issue of whether we hold one another morally responsible does not ultimately depend on the truth or falsity of a metaphysical thesis such as determinism. This is because our so holding one another is a non-rational human sentiment that is not predicated on such theses.{{sfn|Strawson|2008|p=?}}{{sfn|Prasad|1995|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=66b8FJmZQ38C&dq=hume+strawson&q=hume+moral%2C+reactive#v=snippet&q=hume%20moral%2C%20reactive&f=false p. 348]}} Return to David Hume. Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume" Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Page information Wikidata item Languages Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement