Willensfreiheit und Determinismus

Abstract

In her article »Free will and determinism«, Mona Jahangiri begins with neuroethical considerations drawing on the rapid developments taking place in the field of neuroscience, which result in ethical questions in the field of brain research increasingly being taken up: Is there freedom of will? Are human beings free in their actions or are their actions determined? In her article, the author examines the question of moral responsibility in criminals as well as the underlying problem of human free will, which she approaches from an Islamic, especially Islamic-Shiite perspective and in an interdisciplinary way. She first discusses whether or not human beings are actually free in their actions on the basis of some exemplary statements on this topic by Anglo-American and European philosophers and neuroscientists. This is followed by a presentation of »Guilt and responsibility in the Quran and Hadith«, before she devotes herself in detail to the topic of »Determinism and freedom in Islamic Shiite philosophy«, and in this regard reproduces the various positions that have been repeatedly discussed and put to the test within the history and science of the kalām. In doing so, she makes it clear that the Islamic-Shiite view of the question of divine predestination and human freedom of will offers a »middle way«, which in this respect does not mean either/or, but rather both/and, and in her opinion forms the basis for a special kind of compatibilism in which every human being bears complete responsibility for his deeds and is to be regarded as their originator, even if he does not possess absolute, perfect freedom of will and even if the causes do not lie one-hundred percent within his sphere of influence.