According to the seventeenth-century French philosopher Descartes, only human beings have a mind. Like other aspects of the physical world, the body – including the brain – can be studied scientifically. The mind, on the other hand, can only be examined through introspection; and only humans have this capacity. Almost every action of an animal could be simulated by an inanimate machine or automaton and is determined – caused beyond the animal’s control. Only creatures with a mind have free will – the ability to choose how to act.
In the twentieth century, two of psychology’s most influential figures, Freud and Skinner, both favoured determinism in their otherwise strikingly different accounts of human behaviour. Both saw free will as an illusion – but for very different theoretical reasons.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
