Exploring Free Will and Responsibility in Challenging Situations

The Challenge for Judges in Considering Free Will

1.

Give an example of a practical difficulty that a judge would have if she relied on the idea that no-one has free will in her daily work as a judge.

 

2.

According to traditional Christian theology, all psychological entities, states and processes belong to the soul, and animals do not have souls.  How would a traditional Christian theologian reason if asked whether monkeys have free will?  Do monkeys have free will?  Justify your answer to that question.

 

3.

Stanley needs  to get to a railway station in order to return to his home.  He approaches a man sitting on a bench to ask for directions.  Consider two possibilities.  (a) The man credibly threatens Stanley with a knife and says he must stay where he is until it is too late for him to catch his train, and Stanley reluctantly does as he is told.  (b) The man says that his friend is about to arrive in his car and will be glad to take Stanley to the station in his car, but no car arrives and Stanley misses his train.  Give reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the following statements:

(i) In both cases the man on the bench causes Stanley to miss his train.

(ii) In both cases the man on the bench forces Stanley to miss his train, Stanley is not socially free to catch his train, and Stanley does not stay at the bench of his own free will.

(iii) In both cases Stanley follows the suggestions of the man on the bench of his own free will.

 

4.

Suppose that Gillian, a bank teller, hands over money to bank robbers, who point guns at her and ask her to give them money.  Does it follow that she does not hand over the money of her own free will?  Justify your answer to this question.  Suppose that someone argues that she could refuse to hand over the money, and thus has a choice. and hands over the money of her own free will.  How should one respond to that argument?

 

5.

A government official places a child with foster parents whom the official knows abuse the children placed in their care.  When the child is abused the government official denies all responsibility, saying that she has not harmed the child,  and that it is the foster parents who should bear full responsibility.  How should one respond to this position taken by the government official?  Justify your answer to this question.

 

6.

Suppose that Nietzsche argued that if our actions can ultimately be traced to causes operating before we were born, then we are not in control of our actions and therefore are not acting of our own free will.  How should one respond to this argument?  Justify your response.

 

7.

It has been argued that if God exists and knowingly caused people to be created who would commit murder, then God is responsible for the murders.  How should one respond to this argument?  Justify your response.