Within Ayer’s short essay he discusses the two, seemingly opposing, ideas of free-will and determinism. Throughout his work, however, Ayer seems to break down the ‘divide’ between these two ideas by discussing the differences between causality and constraint of actions.
Ayer briefly sets up why the question free-will, and therefore freedom of action, or not having such freedoms, is a problem for us as a society. Our society’s legal system is grounded in the notion that people freely choose to act, and are consequently held morally responsible in the form of praise or punishment. The issue determinism causes is that, for many people, causality of actions means that we are not free to act and therefore should not be held morally responsible.
Ayer briefly sets up why the question free-will, and therefore freedom of action, or not having such freedoms, is a problem for us as a society. Our society’s legal system is grounded in the notion that people freely choose to act, and are consequently held morally responsible in the form of praise or punishment. The issue determinism causes is that, for many people, causality of actions means that we are not free to act and therefore should not be held morally responsible.