Materialism, Determinism, and Freedom

Materialism, Determinism, and Freedom • Materialism • Everything that exists is some manifestation of matter. • There are no non-material realities, e.g. minds or souls. • “By ‘materialism’ I mean the theory that there is nothing in the world over and above those entities which are postulated by physics

(or, of course, those entities which will be postulated by future and more adequate physical theories.)” J. J. C. Smart, “Materialism” • Why be a Materialist? • Occam’s Razor: The simplest explanation explaining all the data is preferable. • Materialists maintain that all human data can be explained by claiming there is only matter.

In other words, one does not need to appeal to something beyond matter, e.g mind or soul, to explain any human data. • Determinism • Humans are NOT capable of acting other than as they actually act. • Human actions are determined by what they cannot control.

“If [a man] understood the play of his organs, if he were able to recall to himself all the impulsions they have received, all the modifications they have undergone, all the effects they have produced, he would perceive that all his actions are submitted to that fatality, which regulates his own particular system, as it does the entire system of the universe . . . . All that passes in him, all that is done by him, as well as all that happens in nature, . . . is derived from necessary causes, which act according to necessary laws, and which produce necessary effects, from whence necessarily flow others.” Baron D’Holbach, Systems of Nature

Behaviorism • A form of materialism • Human persons are nothing more than the observable behaviors their bodies display. • There is no non-visible, non-material mind (self) behind the behaviors controlling them. • There is only a body displaying behaviors. • “The picture which emerges . . . is not of a body with a person inside, but of a body which is a person in the sense that it displays a complex repertoire of behaviors” B. F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity

The behaviors a body displays are determined by genetics and environment. • “A child is born a member of the human species, with a genetic endowment showing many idiosyncratic features, and he begins at once to acquire a repertoire of behavior under the contingencies of reinforcement to which he is exposed as an individual.

“[Children in a particular culture] see how people live, how they raise their children, how they gather or cultivate food, what kinds of dwellings they live in, what they wear, what games they play, how they treat each other, how they govern themselves, and so on. These are the customs, the customary behaviors, of a people. To explain them we must turn to the contingencies which generate them.” B. F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity

Consequences of Behaviorism: • Good: The behaviors the contingencies of a particular culture have determined to be socially acceptable (i.e. beneficial) to the group. • Bad: The behaviors the contingencies of a particular culture have determined to be socially unacceptable (i.e detrimental) to the group. • Good and bad are relative to particular cultures. • What’s good in one culture may be bad in another, and vice-versa.

If, for some reason, someone begins to display socially unacceptable behavior, there should not be an attempt to persuade him that he’s acting badly. • There should be no such attempt because there is no mind or self to persuade, only a body displaying socially unacceptable behavior. • When someone displays socially unacceptable behavior, one should break the body – by whatever means necessary -- so that it no longer displays these behaviors.

A Clockwork Orange • 1971 film by Stanley Kubrick illustrating a society in which Behaviorism is the dominant view. • Story of a young English thug named Alex, played by Malcolm McDowell. • Alex, along with his gang, brutally rape and murder a woman. They also beat her husband to the point that he is paralyzed for life.

Eventually, Alex is put in prison for the brutal murder of another woman. • We join the movie as Alex is attempting to persuade the prison chaplain to get him into a two week behaviorist program that, once he completes it, will allow him to be released. • Alex thinks he can con his way through the program and be back on the streets in two week committing mayhem, but, as we’ll see, it doesn’t work out that way.

Comments on the film • No matter how evil Alex has been, most would maintain it’s wrong to try to break him like an animal. • What’s more, there’s no in principle reason for using treatments like those used on Alex on, as the government minister puts it, “political prisoners.” • Most maintain that all human beings have a dignity that must be respected.

Human dignity is one piece of human data that materialism cannot explain. • If humans were just bodies that display behaviors, then they would have no special dignity, and there would be nothing wrong with what was done to Alex. • Today, since genetics is thought to trump environment in determining behavior, some suggest we should bred humans with socially desirable traits à la Brave New World.

Brave New World is a novel in which various “castes” (i.e. classes) of humans are bred to produce a well-ordered society. • The movie Gattaca is similar. • Breeding humans like animals is just as inconsistent with human dignity as breaking them like animals.

Freedom is a key to human dignity. • Freedom: The capacity to act other than as one actually acts. • Freedom is a presupposition of moral evaluation. • It makes no sense either to praise or blame someone for his actions, if he could not have acted other than he actually did act. • “Ought [and ought not] implies can.” – Immanuel Kant

Only beings that possess a non-material minds or souls can possess freedom. • Thus, only beings that possess a non-material minds or souls can possess dignity. • Since humans possess dignity, they must also possess non-material minds or souls. • Thus, materialism is not the simplest explanation explaining all human data.

Materialism, Determinism, and Freedom