Identify the Major Contributions of APB Statement 4

question 6

Essay

Identify the major contributions of APB Statement 4.

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Definitions:

Sufficient Natural Explanatory Cause(s)

A principle in philosophy and science that holds that natural phenomena have natural causes that are adequate to fully explain them, dismissing the need for supernatural explanations.

Soft Determinists

Philosophers who argue that free will and determinism are compatible, suggesting a person can act freely even if their actions are determined by preceding events or states.

Morally Responsible

The state of being accountable for one's actions, especially in the context of ethics and morality.

Freedom

The power to act without being coerced or restrained. The idea of metaphysical freedom holds that a human decision or action is a person’s own responsibility and that praise and blame may be appropriately ascribed. The most extreme interpretation of freedom is the absence of any causes or determinations. Thus, an indeterminist would say that an event was free if it had no causes; some philosophers would say that a human act was free if it was only self-caused but not determined by anything else (including a person’s character). Certain determinists, however (soft determinists), would say that an act is free only if it is “in character” and based on a person’s desires and personality. Most generally, we say that a person’s act was free, whether or not it was the result of a conscious decision and whether or not certain causes may have been involved, if we would say that he or she could have done otherwise.