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The influence of peer pressure
The effect of peer pressure
Concept of free will
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How much free will do we have? How free are your choices? This old problem about free will has been debated for many years, but why it is a problem to be solved, everyone knows what free will is. However, not everyone has the same idea about it. Some people might say free will is not existed and it is an illusion, but others could have an opposite view about it and say it is obviously that there is free will. It is clearly that human beings do have free will. In fact, all of our decisions were made by our own choices whether they are consciously or unconsciously. However, most people do not just live with themselves but in a society, and there are laws and rules within it. Choices and decisions might be limited because of those barrier, but …show more content…
It is how our everyday decisions are made. Every individual’s mind is free from making choices, but it is influenced within or without the society. Elements that effect our decisions such as the people around us, the situation we are into. For example, parent can limit their children’s options by controlling every aspect of their life. Especially Asian American children who born in a traditional Asian family have to study a “good” major, go to a good college, or get good grade in order to please their parent. Because they were born in America, “they are exposed to freedom of speech, freedom to choose and well freedom to everything,” but “they cannot exercise their freedom to their full extent” (“Asian” 2015). Other than parent, friends are also another element that shapes our will. Friends tend to do many activities together, and in order for that to happen, they need to have the same idea. If you are belong to a group of friends that most of them want to go to the beach for summer, but you want to go to the mountain, you would have to follow the decision of the majority. It does not mean that we do not have free will to make our own choices. We could choose not to study what your parents tell you to and study what you like or you could decide to go to the mountain like you want, but the responsibility we have to take on for our decisions are not always what we want. We might have a fight with our parent or our friendship could be destroyed. Circumstances play another important role in determining our will. If you are sitting on a full bus and there is a pregnant woman standing next to you, you would let her take your sit because that is what most people do. Another example of this is when you are looking to buy a house. You might want to get a big and nice house for your family, but the price of the house is based on your financial situation. Therefore, whether
Human beings always believe that what they want to do is ‘up to them,' and on this account, they take the assumption that they have free will. Perhaps that is the case, but people should investigate the situation and find a real case. Most of the intuitions may be correct, but still many of them can be incorrect. There are those who are sceptical and believe that free will is a false illusion and that it only exists in the back of people’s minds, but society should be able to distinguish feelings from beliefs in order to arrive at reality and truth.
“He has finally learned to love big brother” was how George Orwell in his novel 1984 described Winston, conversion to the party are represented by big brother at the end of the novel. It is easy to believe that at this instance, after torturous reeducation that Winston has endured, he has lost free will and no longer be able to freely choose to love big brother but was forced to, against hiss will. Therefore Winston was never free to love big brother, and in fact not free at all after his “reeducation.” But if we are to accept a definition of free will that stipulates that we are able to produce and act on our own volitions we must accept that Winston has retained and has chosen to love big brother out of his own free will.
Do individuals have free will, or are our actions pre-determined? Humans are mindful human beings. By suggesting individuals can select different ways to respond to any situation, you are suggesting that free will is involved. However, science continues to evolve and discloses new answers on human nature. A major influence in human behavior has to do a lot with an individual’s surroundings. It is believed that a great deal of our own being is the result of an individual’s upbringing, education, culture, or ethnicity. Many of the events individuals are faced with are beyond their control.
To answer the question if human beings possess free will successfully, you have to understand what ‘free will’ actually means. Free will is having the the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate. The ability to act on one 's own desires. There are a couple different ways of answering the free will question that get broken down into three main beliefs; Compatibilism, Libertarianism, and Determinism. Libertarians believe that humans are capable of possessing free will. Determinists believe that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to will. They believe that human beings are not morally responsible
And who needs a living will? Essentially, a living will is a type of expression of independence. We are, after all, free to choose, in life and in death. The expression living will is sometimes utilized to refer to a file in which you compose down exactly what you want to take place if you become ill and can not interact your desires about treatment. It is quite common, for instance, for individuals to compose a living will saying that they do not wish to be kept alive on artificial life supports if they have no hope of healing. The term advance regulation is also often used to describe such a file. Some individuals likewise use the phrase proxy instruction to explain a file that integrates a Power of Lawyer and a living will.
“Please tell me: isn’t God the cause of evil?” (Augustine, 1). With this question to Augustine of Hippo, Evodius begins a philosophical inquiry into nature of evil. Augustine, recently baptized by Saint Ambrose in Milan, began writing his treatise On Free Choice of the Will in 387 C.E. This work laid down the foundation for the Christian doctrine regarding the will’s role in sinning and salvation. In it, Augustine and his interlocutor investigate God’s existence and his role in creating evil. They attempt not only to understand what evil is, and the possibility of doing evil, but also to ascertain why God would let humans cause evil. Central to the premise of this entire dialogue is the concept of God, as relates to Christianity; what is God, and what traits separate Him from humans? According to Christianity, God is the creator of all things, and God is good; he is omnipotent, transcendent, all-knowing, and atemporal- not subject to change over time- a concept important to the understanding of the differences between this world and the higher, spiritual realm He presides over. God’s being is eidos, the essence which forms the basis of humans. With God defined, the core problem being investigated by Augustine and Evodius becomes clear. Augustine states the key issue that must be reconciled in his inquiry; “we believe that everything that exists comes from the one God, and yet we believe that God is not the cause of sins. What is troubling is that if you admit that sins come from… God, pretty soon you’ll be tracing those sins back to God” (Augustine, 3).
In his book Free Will, Sam Harris not only states that, “Our wills are simply not of our own making” but additionally if it where declared as fact by the scientific community it “would precipitate a culture war far more belligerent than the one that has been waged on the subject of evolution.” (Ch.1) Harris’ contention is surprising as he himself states, “…most people find these conclusions abhorrent” (Ch.1) but does it really matter whether we actually have free will or not? I maintain that the existence of actual free will is superfluous. Most of us agree that we, at the very least, experience an illusion of freedom and therefore, for the good of our civilization, we must continue to live under this assumption precisely to avoid the result Harris describes.
Free will is a problem that has been occupying the minds of many philosophers. The classical debate is whether we have free will or we are determined and therefore free will in an illusion. There are many views that philosophers have brought to the table in order to tackle this debate. Some of which are determinism, libertarianism, and compatibilism. Harry Frankfurt’s general intake on the debate is that free will is not about having the ability to do otherwise. Instead, free will is about having the ability to make judgements about our desires. The purpose of this paper is to expound and asses Harry Frankfurt’s semi-compatibilist view, his concept of a person, and how it relates to the freedom of the will.
In conclusion, the significance of personal choice is that it can affect a person’s emotions, cause people to be autonomous, and enables people to exercise free will. Personal choice can control and shape a person’s emotions. Also, personal choice teaches independence by having people make decisions for themselves. Personal choice is a form of freedom, and makes people’s lives different than others by their choices. Personal choice is the key concept of a unique
Every person has wondered about something - whether it be a person, place, thing, law, or anything that someone can think about. They ask questions both rhetorical and actual to themselves, and usually make it a mission to answer these questions. Some of the biggest questions have something to do with culture and religion. One of the most major questions of all time - to what extent does an individual have control over the outcome of his or her life? There are many different opinions on this topic.
The modern field of cognitive science combines research from fields such as computer science, psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience in order to study the processes of the mind. Using a framework of representational structures and operational procedures, cognitive science has been able to make significant contributions to the study of cognition and information processing. This interdisciplinary approach has been so successful that its application has been extended to areas like metaphysics, which was once considered to be outside the realm of empirical study; theorists hope that cognitive science may provide insight into questions related to the fundamental nature of existence, such as the debate between free will and determinism.
Since the foundation of philosophy, every philosopher has had some opinion on free will in some sense, from Aristotle to Kant. Free will is defined as the agent's action to do something unimpeded, with many other factors going into it Many philosophers ask the question: Do humans really have free will? Or is consciousness a myth and we have no real choice at all? Free will has many components and is fundamental in our day to day lives and it’s time to see if it is really there or not.
Freedom, or the concept of free will seems to be an elusive theory, yet many of us believe in it implicitly. On the opposite end of the spectrum of philosophical theories regarding freedom is determinism, which poses a direct threat to human free will. If outside forces of which I have no control over influence everything I do throughout my life, I cannot say I am a free agent and the author of my own actions. Since I have neither the power to change the laws of nature, nor to change the past, I am unable to attribute freedom of choice to myself. However, understanding the meaning of free will is necessary in order to decide whether or not it exists (Orloff, 2002).
Most children, teenagers, and adults make these decisions because they think they are invincible. Most of these people think Oh, I’m tough and strong enough to take it or Nobody is going to figure out what I did, but in the long run this will hurt you in the future. One of the main factors for everyone in making decisions is that of peer pressure. When somebody’s friends are all doing something that makes you want to try it, also. More reasons to make decisions are the behaviors of other peers surrounding you. “Decision-making is often influenced by the behavior of others. For instance, people frequently make similar decisions as their friends do (e.g. teenagers may choose to wear clothing that is identical to that of their buddies), while they also often choose differently than the ones they do not like” (The Influence Of Others On Our Decisions). Another factor that causes bad decisions could be one’s home life. Abuse by parents or siblings may cause emotional issues that cause a person to rebel, steal, drink or possibly kill. The person making those kind of decisions might not even realize why they act the way they do. “I am a big believer that our moral compasses are influenced by the people we associate with as friends and the access to vices that undermine our lives” (How To Make Good Decisions That Lead to Great Success). This just proves that a lot of people’s decisions are
Human nature is about free will, and using one’s free will for good acts. We know free will exists because living things are being changed day after day. Any act, from walking across a room to deciding to eat a meal, is because of free will. We are given free will and with that, the ability to create our own, unique path in life. Free will provides human beings with freedom, judgement, and responsibility. Every human being is born with the capability to live a good, just life. However it is just as possible to live an immoral life led by bad choices. This notion of endless options in life is made possible by God’s gift of free will. No two human lives will ever be the same, because no two people will ever have the exact same experiences their entire lives. Every human being is shaped by experience, which comes from our actions, which are results of free will.