Essay on Free Will and Determinism

Submitted By IanChenner1
Words: 1720
Pages: 7
Open Document
Free Will and Determinism
University of Toronto
Professor J. Brunning
Philosophy-105 2012-2013

Free Will and Determinism

Freedom, something that when people asks, everyone can give you different definitions. According to the dictionary, the meaning of freedom is the state of being free or at liberty rather than in a confinement. To me, my own definition of freedom means not to be restraint from other human beings, but to other people, it could be something that are completely different. Some people says that everything we do will have some kind of sufficient causes behind it. If I pull the fire alarm on the hallway, the chances are that all the people in the building can not stay in the building for a good while. And that is, the meaning of determinism. The debates between free will and determinism has been brought up over and over again. This idea has been separated into few different theories, hard determinism and soft determinism. Hard determinism means that the concept of free will and determinism are incompatible ideas. It is basically telling us that free will does not exist. On the other hand, soft determinism means that free will and determinism are compatible ideas, therefore, free will does exists. And finally, libertarianism, a vision of how people should be live their lives as a individual human being. In this essay, I am going to pick one of the three theories to support it. Soft determinism has my vote because it seems more logic.
In the reading of “freedom and Necessity” from A.J Ayer, he gives out two main objections about hard determinism. He started with giving out doubts about whether every event must have a cause or not. In a science point of view, it has been approved that a lot of actions were governing by law. Maybe it is the case that events are follow by the natural laws, but it is reasonable that we think it is not., and this idea may even apply on human actions. But the problem with this following objection is that even if that human actions are not forced to be made causally, it doesn't mean that humans are responsible for their actions. It means if laws do not determine human action causally, it does not follow that humans choose their actions. Ayer's second objection to hard determinism is that the idea of free will is compatible with determinism. The idea of freedom and causality are being compared by the hard determinist. With being compared, the only free actions are those that are not caused. The reason of why is not caused is because everything you do have some kind of caused, it means that there are no free actions. Ayer thinks that freedom shouldn’t be compared with causality. Freedom should compare with constraint, but be careful, even if all constrained actions are caused, it doesn't mean that all the actions that caused are constrained. The reason why it isn't is because the definition of constrained actions is different for Ayer. Constrained actions means that when someone forced another person to do something. For instance: a thief put a knife on my throat and ask me to give him my wallet. But constrained actions can also be when nobody forces you to do something. For instance: i am starving on a dessert not because someone take the food away from me, but there is no food on the dessert. These two different cases can leads us to a different understanding of whether or not people are freely act. According to Ayer's theory, everything happened for a reason just so that behaviour can be explained by the cause. And those are the reasons why Ayer made a statement that free will is compatible with determinism.
On the second reading “the problem of Free will” by Walter T. Stace, she argues that the debate over whether humans have free will or not. He used a typical example of man. If a person think that animals have five legs; he or she looks around and figure that there is no such thing. He would give a definite answer of: no, there is no five leg animal. To figure whether
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on Free Will and Determinism

Determinism: Free will and Determinism Vs Free Essay

October 17, 2014 Word Count: 560 Determinism vs Free Will “Determinism is the thesis that everything that occurs happens of necessity.” (Palmer, pg 220). The question of free will is one which has been hotly debated for millennia. Some people believe that humans have the capacity for free will - the ability to choose their actions without being forced to follow a certain course by either by the influence of others or by natural laws. For many theists, free will is regarded as a special gift from…

Words 492 - Pages 2

Determinism Vs. Free Will

my view, human lives are ruled by both determinism and free will. "Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will," once said Jawaharlal Nehru. Where a person in born, where he come from, and what happened before (the past) is already determined and what is coming in future will be their free will. The future may have some determinism to it, but one will still have room to change according to their own free will and work around the situations.…

Words 319 - Pages 2

Free will and Determinism Essay

Concepts and Points of View in Free Will and Determinism Concepts and Points of View in Free Will and Determinism There are two main philosophical theories that help us understand the cause of our actions and thoughts. Many philosophers and writers claim that every single occurrence (consequence) is the result of a present or past action (cause). This theory is called determinism. Free will is the belief that humans have the option of choosing and making their…

Words 457 - Pages 2

Free Will and Determinism Essay

Free Will and Determinism- is it an Illusion? Determinism, libertarianism and compatibilism are three significantly different views on where unaccountability might stop and where free will and moral responsibility begin. Determinism is the strict opinion that every action and decision is the cause of an event, genetics or the environment prior to that action. Quite the opposite is libertarianism, which happens to be the genuine belief in free will as well as the denial of universal causation…

Words 1898 - Pages 8

Free Will Vs Determinism

Domonique Jones Grand Canyon University The predetermined question is if free will and determinism can co-exist, or what are the contrast of the two. Over the weeks in this course different discussions have come into place, free will verses determinism is by far one of the most opinionated to me. The free will theory states, that if someone is to act freely, then they must be the originator of the actions that they display. When free will is discussed it is considered to be an act in which we act freely…

Words 1163 - Pages 5

Free will and determinism Essay

“Feel free to choose your dead-lines” said my philosophy teacher. “It can be anytime from now to the end of this year and please choose it according to your comfort.” I looked at the sign-up sheet and saw the various dates I could choose from. I was very relieved by the fact that we were free to choose our own deadlines. But as I stared at the rectangular boxes on the sheet where I was supposed to write my choice, I was dragged into a vortex. My mind was swirling helplessly. I was a free man until…

Words 1833 - Pages 8

Free Will vs. Determinism Essay

Free Will vs. Determinism Society walks about day-by-day living their lives and never really thinking or breaking down how their day unfolds or why it plays out the way it does. Some people have said that individuals have a choice and are able to decide on where their day goes. Others on the other hand would argue this assessment and state that your day and your life as whole are all pre determined. The different is free will vs. determinism. Do you believe we live in a free will world or has…

Words 1962 - Pages 8

Determinism: Free will and Way Essay examples

Philosophy 3/16/12 Chain Reactions Throughout all different types of philosophy, Determinism is the idea that everything happens for a reason and for every event there is always an event that occurs in response to this event. With ideas such as these, there are many different positions one could be in due to how reinforced ones beliefs are, on either free will or determinism, or the both combined. With the different levels of free will, brings more freedom for one to choose the outcome of an event. Therefore…

Words 548 - Pages 3

English: Free will and Soft Determinism Essay

‘If no one is free then no one is morally responsible’ The idea of soft determinism entails the fact our actions are to some extent controlled by external forces but we are still held accountable for our choices. I agree with this and believe that we are not free and that our actions are pre-determined by the mechanistic world we live in where everything has a purpose; every small action has an equal sized reaction, which, I believe we are morally responsible for. Soft determinism I had mentioned…

Words 1390 - Pages 6

Determinism Vs. Free Will: The Zimbardo Project

really if they are put in the right situation to act a certain way. I personally believe that humans do not have self control over their actions sometimes. The debate on determinism vs free will is a very controversial topic. Personally, I believe that that determinism is a pretty accurate. However free will is used also for determinism to be used for example…

Words 276 - Pages 2