My classrooms are student-centered spaces.  Treating the philosophy classroom like a science laboratory provides structure, and assigning prep work gets students ready to do philosophy with their peers.

Scroll down to be guided through a sample philosophy lab on free will.

 

Prep Work Videos:

Click here to view my Introduction to Philosophy PowToons, including one on free will.  (It’s the second to last on that page.)  Also provided: Free Will PowToon Transcript

Click here to view Crash Course Philosophy: “Determinism vs. Free Will”

Click here to view Crash Course Philosophy: “Compatibilism”

 

 

Prep Work Readings (from textbook):

Robert Kane: “Free Will: Ancient Dispute, New Themes”

Derk Pereboom: “Why We Have No Free Will and Can Live Without It”

 

Prep Work Problems (done individually before lab):

1. Write down personal reflections (or questions you have) regarding the ideas in this reading assignment.
2. Explain how Kane explicitly uses Skinner’s Walden Two to attack Compatibilism.
3. Kane writes that Compatibilists accuse Libertarians of either “confusion” or “emptiness.” Explain each criticism in your own words.
4. Compare and contrast the retributivist justification for criminal punishment with the utilitarian justification for criminal punishment.  (See Section 5 in Pereboom.)
5. Now compare and contrast the utilitarian justification for criminal punishment with the quarantine analogy.
6. How does Pereboom think that maintaining an objective Hard Determinist outlook would affect our interpersonal relationships?
7. How does Pereboom respond to the concern that Hard Determinism can be “extremely damaging … to our sense of achievement, worth, and self-respect?”

 

 

Lab Session #1 (done in teams of 3 or 4):

Unreflective views about the justification of punishment are called into question by the idea that human behavior is causally determined.  Here, students explore and evaluate reflective views of the justification of punishment.

8. Explain one reason to prefer the retributivist justification for criminal punishment over the utilitarian justification for criminal punishment.
9. Explain one reason to prefer the utilitarian justification for criminal punishment over the retributivist justification for criminal punishment.
10. Explain one reason to prefer the quarantine analogy over the utilitarian justification for criminal punishment.

 

Lab Session #2 (also done in teams of 3 or 4):

Students test their understanding of Hard Determinism, Compatibilism, and Libertarianism by analyzing and evaluating important quotes by three great philosophers.

11. If possible, identify which free will position the author of the following quote appears to hold. If not possible, identify which free will position(s) the author clearly doesn’t hold.  Defend your choice(s).  Then, evaluate the quote: “What is the meaning of this phrase ‘to be free’?  It means ‘to be able’ or else it has no meaning.” – Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694-1778)
12. Same instructions as previous problem: “Desire therefore does not come to consciousness as heat comes to the piece of iron which I hold near the flame. Consciousness chooses itself as desire.” – Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
13. Same instructions as previous problem: “[S]ome portions of the universe … have projects, interests, and values they create in the course of their own self-evaluation and self-definition. How much less like a domino could a portion of the physical world be?” – Daniel C. Dennett (b. 1942)

 

 

Exit Ticket (done individually before next class):

14. Explain an advantage of Compatibilism over Hard Determinism.
15. Explain an advantage of Hard Determinism over Compatibilism.
16. Explain an advantage of Compatibilism over Libertarianism.
17. Explain an advantage of Libertarianism over Compatibilism.

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