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976 bytes added ,  19:35, September 15, 2008
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:: Yeah sorry, I should've made that clearer but I hoped I could leave it a little implicit. Essentially Hume draws a distinction between two kinds of freedom - freedom of action and freedom of will. The former is the freedom to do as you choose (i.e. it would be compromised if you were in jail or tied up or something), and the latter is the freedom to determine your own will. Hume says that confusion between these two terms is at the root of many discussions of free will, since often people use free will to mean the latter thing when in reality it doesn't make much sense - either things are determined or they are random (because of cause and effect). Is that at all clear? --[[User:Sam99foster|Sam99foster]] 11:58, 14 September 2008 (EDT)
 
:: Yeah sorry, I should've made that clearer but I hoped I could leave it a little implicit. Essentially Hume draws a distinction between two kinds of freedom - freedom of action and freedom of will. The former is the freedom to do as you choose (i.e. it would be compromised if you were in jail or tied up or something), and the latter is the freedom to determine your own will. Hume says that confusion between these two terms is at the root of many discussions of free will, since often people use free will to mean the latter thing when in reality it doesn't make much sense - either things are determined or they are random (because of cause and effect). Is that at all clear? --[[User:Sam99foster|Sam99foster]] 11:58, 14 September 2008 (EDT)
 
::Re-reading myself I really don't think it is. When people talk about lack of free will negating morality, they mean lack of freedom of will (as opposed to of action). Hume says that lack of freedom of will results in randomness, because thought processes are subject to the same laws of cause and effect as any other event. So an apple falling is caused by gravity or something else, and if its caused by nothing then the occurrence must be random; and the same with decisions, which are caused by a variety of external stimuli.--[[User:Sam99foster|Sam99foster]] 12:03, 14 September 2008 (EDT)
 
::Re-reading myself I really don't think it is. When people talk about lack of free will negating morality, they mean lack of freedom of will (as opposed to of action). Hume says that lack of freedom of will results in randomness, because thought processes are subject to the same laws of cause and effect as any other event. So an apple falling is caused by gravity or something else, and if its caused by nothing then the occurrence must be random; and the same with decisions, which are caused by a variety of external stimuli.--[[User:Sam99foster|Sam99foster]] 12:03, 14 September 2008 (EDT)
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:::Your addition and your writing here are not necessarily clear.  If you wish to break up the article into two sections, then do so showing clearly that Hume is using his own definition of free will to make his point.  In the absense of free will it is obvious that there is no blame for actions as free will would be a necessary precursor for free action.  You also seem to be confused that lack of free will does not equal random.  Indeed much of what occurs is structured and orderly; there is just no will involved.  In nature an apple falling from a tree does so due to gravity - and will do so each and every time unless some other outside stimulus intervenes.  The apple has no free action to suddenly fall up, nor does it have a free will to consider that.  It reacts based upon the bio-chemical nature of its makeup.  Humans are no different when considered from this same naturalistic setting. [[User:Learn together|Learn together]] 15:35, 15 September 2008 (EDT)
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