Soft Determinism Essay

Regardless of one’s stance, everything in life is a choice; one can decide whether they want dessert or not, want to love or not, and even if they want continue to live or not. The difference between the free will of choice and determinism is that in a determined life, one’s social standing, genetics, and environment determine their choices and future. Nevertheless, there are two types of determinism, soft and hard. Soft determinism is the belief that although humans lives are heavily determined, humans still have power to change or affect their future, therefore humans should be held morally responsible for their choices. Hard determinism on the other hand, is the belief that a human's life and decisions are already determined and there is

For Ethan, his poverty has seriously restricted any chance of him getting out of Starkfield and living a better life. In an attempt to pursue his dreams of becoming an engineer in a big city, Ethan tries to sell his farmhouse but says that “purchasers were slow in coming” (pp. 53). Although there is a limited amount of purchasers, Wharton later infers that even if Ethan sold the farmhouse, it would belong to the bank since Ethan is so poor. Not only is Ethan exceptionally poor, but so is Mattie Silver, Zeena’s cousin and Ethan’s mistress. Mattie’s history before she came to live with Ethan and Zeena is quite sad and shows that her life is also overtly predetermined since the moment both her parents died. Left with only fifty (50) dollars from the selling of a piano and a bad reputation given to her by her father, Mattie attempts to work as a stenographer and bookkeeper but, “her health broke down, and six months on her feet behind the counter of a department store did not tend to restore it” (pp. 44). With this, Mattie is in a way forced to move to Ethan and Zeena’s house to help them care for the house. After Zeena states that Mattie needs to leave the Frome household, Ethan is terrified with the thought that Mattie would move far away and have to become a prostitute in order to sustain herself since, she cannot work in a job that requires too much physical work. Becoming a

The most controversial topic in the novel is not Ethan falling in love with Mattie, because one does not have the choice of who they fall in love with, however it is Ethan’s decision to display his love for her by being affectionate and touchy. Ethan’s choice however is quite determined once one looks at his relationship with his wife Zeena. Upon Mattie’s arrival, Ethan’s life has completely changed, he described his wife as, “Zeena herself, from an oppressive reality, had faded into an insubstantial shade. All his life was lived in the sight and sound of Mattie Silver, and he could no longer conceive of its being otherwise” (pp. 29). This quote demonstrates how fed up Ethan was of his wife Zeena’s controlling and whiny personality and, can be used as a justification as to why Ethan decided to pursuit Mattie. Suddenly, with Mattie’s appearance, Ethan has found a new optimism towards life and an interest in his love life. All that being said, news of Mattie’s departure absolutely crushed both Ethan and Mattie’s spirit, causing them to make the bold choice to commit suicide. Although their decision was irrational, as Sam Harris said in the article “There’s No Such Thing as Free Will,” one must look at Ethan and Mattie’s situation to determine whether a decision was rational or not. Ethan has no money to buy tickets for them