Q1. What does freedom from external constraint mainly mean?
Freedom from external constraint concerns whether someone interferes with or forces an action; it does not require choices to be uncaused.
Philosophy
Quiz: The Problem of Free Will
Sample questions from this book. Open the app for the full chapter quizzes and final exam.
Q2. What is determinism, as described in the chapter?
Determinism says events, including choices, follow from prior conditions together with the laws of nature.
Q3. How do compatibilists commonly distinguish a free action from a coerced one?
Compatibilists often focus on whether an action expresses the person’s own reasons and capacities, rather than being produced by coercion.
Q4. What difficulty do critics raise about libertarian freedom?
Critics ask how a choice can be undetermined yet still controlled by the person, rather than occurring by chance.
Q5. Which set of questions best fits the chapter’s approach to assessing responsibility?
The chapter recommends considering knowledge, pressures, responsiveness to reasons, and the person’s degree of control.
Q6. What does the experience of deliberating establish by itself?
Deliberation reveals how agency is experienced from the first-person perspective, but it does not settle whether alternatives were genuinely possible.
Q7. Why is a reason for an action not necessarily an alternative to a cause?
A person’s beliefs and values can make an action intelligible while also contributing causally to it.
Q8. How does determinism differ from fatalism?
Under determinism, deliberation can still be part of the causal path to an outcome. Fatalism treats the outcome as inevitable regardless of action.