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→Viewpoint of David Hume: Spelling/Grammar Check, typos fixed: philosphers → philosophers
== Viewpoint of David Hume ==
== Viewpoint of David Hume ==
However some philosphers (e.g. [[David Hume]]) have held that not only can morality and determinism co-exist, but in fact that morality ''requires'' that our actions were determined. The reasoning is as follows:
However some philosophers (e.g. [[David Hume]]) have held that not only can morality and determinism co-exist, but in fact that morality ''requires'' that our actions were determined. The reasoning is as follows:
Decisions are just like any other event in that they have causes. The relationship between a reason and a decision is broadly similar to that between a cause and an effect; if an effect lacks a cause, it must necessarily be [[random]], and the same is true of a decision. Every element of the thought process that goes into making a choice must be either caused by external stimuli (the reasons for deciding one way or the other) or completely random. We could not be considered moral beings if our actions were random and therefore responsibility can fall only on determined individuals. Hume considered free will to be the freedom to do as one chooses (freedom of action), and therefore moral blame falls upon those who have acted immorally when they were at liberty to act otherwise.
Decisions are just like any other event in that they have causes. The relationship between a reason and a decision is broadly similar to that between a cause and an effect; if an effect lacks a cause, it must necessarily be [[random]], and the same is true of a decision. Every element of the thought process that goes into making a choice must be either caused by external stimuli (the reasons for deciding one way or the other) or completely random. We could not be considered moral beings if our actions were random and therefore responsibility can fall only on determined individuals. Hume considered free will to be the freedom to do as one chooses (freedom of action), and therefore moral blame falls upon those who have acted immorally when they were at liberty to act otherwise.