2023 Volume 48 Pages 8-22
Philosophers presume determinism to be a cosmological supposition through which the course of this universe is strictly determined and cannot be anything other than the actual course. This supposition raises a problem in considering human free will in association with determinism. Philosophers have been divided into three positions: hard determinism, (philosophical) libertarianism, and compatibilism. In contrast, social scientists including criminologists consider determinism more broadly, which does not concern cosmological processes but human nature (such as biological or environmental determinism). This paper aims to develop an inclusive framework that involves these different types of determinism. Additionally, it aims to consider contemporary criminological research by applying the developed framework. First, we consider Matza’s unique conceptualization of soft and hard determinism, followed by his strategy of introducing free will using his conceptualization. Second, we critically examine Paternoster’s libertarian concept of human agency. Third, we attempt to connect Maruna’s qualitative research on desistance with Daniel Wegner’s psychological analysis of human conscious will as the authorship emotion.
