Determinism And Free Will Essay

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Determinism and Free Will
Are we, as humans, truly free or not? For me, I wake up every morning, go to class or work, go to the gym, hang out with my friends, etc., but does this mean that I am free? In order to answer this question, I believe we need to ask a few questions. For one, are the choices that I make in life free or determined by other external factors? Also, are the paths that I choose and my own actions, my own responsibility? Philosophers Baron D’Holbach and Walter Terence Stace offer two different interpretations on where humans stand with freewill. They examine nature and how other people’s own freewill play a part in our own actions and in our own fate. While both philosophers present their own intelligent opinions on the matter, I find some fault in Baron D’Holbach’s opinion and agree more with Walter Terence Stace; that humans do in fact have free will.
Baron D’Holbach, one of the most well-known determinists, stated that human beings are just like any other living species, fitting into the natural world, therefore making us subjected to the casual laws of the universe. We are like animals in and an “integral part” of the natural world, thus we must follow the same rules as everyone else in the universe. Further, he believed that our “will” is a result of brain chemistry and the interaction with the environment. From this, he claims that free will cannot exist because instead, casual laws determine one’s mental state. But what if someone was given a choice? For example, say a very thirsty man is offered a drink, but is informed that this drink is poisoned. This thirsty man denies the drink, so from his decision, dos this mean that he has chosen freely not to drink it, despite the fact that h...

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... protest, while an unfree act is someone starving because they are stranded. While the first person chose to starve, the second is unfree because he did not choose to starve.
In conclusion, I believe that is difficult to answer the question on determinism vs. free will. What is freedom? I think that both the ability to freely choice along with free will are present in our lives. External and internal factors are both huge influences on our lives, beyond our control, but because they are beyond our control does not mean that we cannot make changes. Yes, we are all born as a certain nationality, gender, race, country, and exposed to different experiences, yet we still have the ability to grow and change. If one can acknowledge these differences and what we can and cannot control, then we can move on to other forms of change and then truly experience free will.

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