Ayer Freedom And Necessity Sparknotes

In 1954, A.J. Ayer published the paper Freedom and Necessity, which was written to provide Ayer’s argument on how moral responsibility is determined and more importantly the larger concept argument for the true nature of freedom. In this paper, Ayer makes the case that free will is compatible with determinism. Address Ayer’s responses few objections and the objection that Galen Strawson may have had with Ayer. I don’t find Ayer’s response to the objections convincing, so I present a better example and response before agreeing with his compatibilist conclusion. Throughout, I will relate these arguments to the more important concept of what makes a moral agent free.

Before proceeding into the argument it is important to have a tentative understanding
When we consider that events and decisions never occur in a vacuum with a very controlled outcome. There are always billions, trillions of possibilities that can ensue when you take into account: time, location, people involved, perception, and a multitude of other factors. If we constantly point to a chain of events causing an agent to commit a transgression, how can we hold society accountable for wrong-doings? The answer is that in order to hold people in society accountable for committing wrong, we must first acknowledge that we as a general people are
He breaks it down by stating that many determinists make the mistake of saying that 'freedom' contrasts with causality; free actions can’t be caused. And since all actions are caused, no free actions exist. Ayer states we don’t completely understand freedom and freedom should be contrasted with constraint. (278) Constrain is when one person compels another to act, by, for example, threats of force, hypnosis, or deceit. Even if all constrained actions are caused, it is not the case that all caused actions are