Jeff Fenchel, James Hopper, and Brandon Smith
Minority Report provides a unique perspective on the debate
of determinism vs freewill. In the opening scene of Minority Report, John
Anderton (Tom Cruise) is investigating a murder that has yet to happen. This is
made possible by “precogs” human beings who have the ability to see into the
future. Because of this ability, John is able to stop the murder before it
happens. In addition, the would-be murderer is arrested for the “future crime”
of murdering his wife, an even that never actually took place. Obviously the
criminal justice system of John’s time views the world in a deterministic fashion
because they are willing to convict people on actions they were predicted to
carry out. However, the criminal justice systems actions prevent their prediction
from occurring, thus undermining the deterministic view of the world upon which
the systems laws are based. You could go
as far as to argue that law enforcement is embracing a libertarian concept by
taking free action to change the future based on predictions that can no longer
occur if they are successful. The concepts of Libertarianism and Determinism
are extreme cases of the conflict between free will and fate. A proposed middle
ground, Compatibilism, offers a combination of deterministic and libertarian
methodologies by categorizing events as the consequence of free will or
determinism on a case by case basis.
In addition
to reviewing the three concepts of Determinism, Libertarianism, and
Compatibilism we will also attempt to relate these to social interaction. It is
our intention that relating these concepts to real world experiences will help
illuminate the need to explore these concepts interpersonally and provide a
greater understanding of human to human interaction.
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