Imagine a physiologist who causes me to have certain desires (and other internal psychological states).
If I then act from these desires, I am acting freely, according to the soft determinist.
But this is surely not a free action, Taylor says. ("It is the perfect description of a puppet." IP3 377a)
So, the Soft Determinist account of free action is mistaken.
The argument formulated:
1. | If Soft Determinism is correct, then a person who acts from desires which have been induced in them (by an ingenious physiologist) is acting freely. | |
2. | A person who acts from desires which have been induced in them (by an ingenious physiologist) is not acting freely. | |
3. | Soft Determinism is not correct. (1, 2 MT) |