Examples Of Incompatibilism

In the text, it compares two groups. One of the groups is the Incompatibilists, those who believe that if determinism is true then no one has free will. Those who reject the Incompatibilists view are known as the Compatibilists. Those who believe that free will is compatible with determinism. Incompatibilists like Peter Van Inwagen, support a powerful argument called the Consequence Argument. The argument can be used with any human action at any time. Incompatibilists can conclude that if determinism is true and free will requires humans to do differently than people don’t have access to free will. Without a doubt the first two permeable of the Consequence Argument are deniable. Van Inwagen states that “it’s not up to us what went on before we were born.” This gives us the introduction of the Consequence Argument which means we can’t do anything to change the past or change the laws of nature. Next, Van Inwagen says “if determinism is true, then our acts are the consequence of the laws of nature and events in the remote past.” This is where Incompatibilists believe that determinism is true, and the Consequence Argument proposes that there is nothing people can do to change the fact that our present choices are the required consequences of the past or laws of nature.