Author: Gemma

Topics
A: Predestination
1. Doctrine of Original Sin
2. Role of Concupiscence, Massa Peccati, liberium arbitrium
4. God’s grace and election of the saints
5. Doctrine of Election
6. TULIP
B: Determinism
7. Hard Determinism
8. Philosophical, Psychological and Scientific Determinism
9. Soft Determinism– Ayer and Hobbes
C: Implications for Ethics & Religion
10. Implications for Moral responsibility
11. Implications for usefulness of normative ethics
12. Implications for God’s omnipotence and omnibenevolence
13. Implications for prayer, miracles and good & evil

Case Studies
14. Pavolov’s Dogs	15. Watson’s Baby	16. The Locked Room
17. Clarence Darrow	18. Mobley	19. Jon Venables

Free Will & Determinism

Ethics T4 A-C Knowledge organizer

Scholars
20. St Augustine	26. Calvin	32.Pelagius	38.Spinoza
21. Arminius	27. McCurrin	33.Wesley	39. Hospers
22. Locke	28. Pavlov	34.Skinner	40. Dr Sirigu
23. Watson	29. Dennet	35. Darwin	41. Edwards
24. Russell	30. Dr Ngun	36. Hobbes
25. Ayer	31. Satre	37. Rogers

Key:
* Relating to Predestination * Relating to Determinism
* Relating to Implications

77. Man is free when he chooses what he wants but he cannot will what he wants– Schopenhauer

Key Quotes

75. Our will can merely do evil and desire evil– St Augustine

78. A God that punishes and rewards on the basis of God’s own eternal decisions is unfair and immoral– Russell

76. Doomed from the womb– Calvin

Key Words
42. concupiscence	59. Mormonism
43. heresy	60. omnibenevolence
44. moral agent	61. omniscience
45. omnipotent	62. hard determinism
46. predestination	63. soft determinism
47. reason	64. universal causation
48. massa peccatti	65. behaviourism
49. libertas	66. conditioning
50. libertum arbitrium	67. external causes
51. God’s grace	68. internal causes
52. The Elect	69. logical positivism
53. Reprobates	70. culminative effect
54. Sovereignty of God	71. Rational choice theory
55. Sola scripture	72. normative ethics
56. atonement	73. unconditional election
57. synod	74. Decalogue
58. Methodism

79. Any other set of outcomes than the one fixed from eternity is impossible- James

Should Religious Believers accept Predestination?
80. St Augustine believed accepting free will and denying predestination was a heresy as it lessens God’s omnipotence / 81. Ephesians 2:8 supports the idea of predestination / 82. Surah 76:30 / 54:49 supports the idea of predestination in Islam / 83. Augustine and Calvin’s Predestination doctrines were both historically endorsed / 84. Predestination supports the idea of an omnipotent God	85. Many believers favour a focus on free will– Pelagius, Mormonism etc / 86. There are also many teachings in the Bible and Qur’an that suggest humans are free not determined / 87. Free will, as opposed to predestination, makes the PoE easier to explain / 88. Predestination seems arbitrary and unfair and rather bleak / 89. Predestination challenges God’s benevolence and provides less of an incentive to do good.
To what extent does God predestine humanity?
90. Calvin and St Augustine would argue that everything is predestined, from before you were even conceived / 91. Some Biblical teachings suggest full predestination (Job14:5) / 92. Anything less than total predestination would challenge God’s omnipotence	93. Calvin argues that the Elect can sin suggesting that they have some degree of freedom / 94. St Augustine says that we were born free so not total predestination / 95. Many teachings from the Bible and Quran suggest free will so predestination cannot be total / 96. Some theologians suggest nothing is predestined and that humanity has been given the gift of free will
How far does Hard Determinism illustrate that humanity has no free will?
97. Scientific support through genetic fixity / 98. If Locke is correct then FW is an illusion– supported by James / 99. Psychological determinism shows how humans can be conditioned and so do not act freely / 100. Many hard determinist theories have support from eminent scholars / 101. We might feel free but in reality we are not– we have a choice but what we choose is determined.	102. Dr Sirigu believes she has pinpointed a FW part of the brain / 103. Satre would argue that we must be free as we keep denying it / 104. Rogers says children can overcome conditioning through self actualisation / 105. Most people would deny that they had no choices and no FW / 106. Soft determinism allows for determinism and also some element of free will

What are the strengths and weaknesses of determinism?
107. Is supported by evidence from philosophy, psychology and science / 108. There are case studies to show that a persons’ DNA makes them more predisposed towards violence or addiction etc / 109. People who overcome conditioning might be the people who are genetically determined to be able to overcome conditioning / 110. Soft determinism is appealing as it allows for both determinism and freedom	111.Freewill theory also has several eminent supporters / 112.The work of Dr Sirigu suggests that humans are not completely determined / 113.Many psychologists believe people can overcome conditioning / 114. Soft determinism is really the same as hard determinism– it just explains why we feel like we have freedom
Is Moral Responsibility an Illusion?
115. If everything is determined by genetics or God then we cannot really be blamed / 116. Hospers– moral choice is a ‘matter of luck’ / 117. Court cases show people have got off on the grounds of determinism / 118. Those who do wrong, never freely choose– they have no choice but to do wrong	119. This is only true if determinism is true / 120. From an Augustinian view we are all born sinful so we have moral responsibility anyway / 121. It doesn’t matter if they choose to do it they are still a danger and still need to be held accountable / 122. Pelagius and Arminius would argue we are free so moral responsibility is real. / 123. UK law uses rational choice theory
How far does predestination influence our understanding of God?
124.Strong illustration of God’s omnipotence / 125.Makes God seem omnibenevolent since we are all born with sin and totally corrupt but he still chooses to save some of us. / 126. Some argue it is predestination that allows God to perform miracles as it is merely God introducing a new law in nature / 127. Reinforces the idea that we are dependent on God (Johnathon Edwards’ view)	128. We are heavily influenced by FW as well– An omnipotent God could self limit to allow us FW / 129. Many would argue that the arbitrary nature of who is saved and who is damned makes God seem unfair and mean / 130. Russell argues a God who punishes and rewards based on what he has decided is unfair and immoral / 131. Predestination suggests that God is accountable for all moral evil / 132. Predestination rules out spontaneous miracles and a God who responds