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Free Will Vs. Determinism Philosophy
Differentiate freedom and determinism
Free Will Vs. Determinism Philosophy
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College students have countless options, almost to the point where it inhibits their ability to make decisions. With more classes than we can imagine, it is often difficult for people to imagine the end goal for themselves. As a result, many people feel lost despite the fact that they have full control of their life path. A classmate advised to “choose the person inside yourself that you want to be” (Baduwal). An end goal is necessary so that college students can envision the person that they want to be at the end of their college experience. This goal sets the path that people have to take in order to become the person they want to be. For college students that have this end goal, their freedom is almost limited due to the fact that college majors frequently have specific requirements that restrict the choice involved in determining classes. In this respect, determinism is necessary in order for people to be self-determining, yet ironically limits the degree to which people are …show more content…
The physical world is governed by the rules of cause and effect. Individuals are a part of the physical world and are thus determined. Any action we take has predictable results once set in motion and it is this that allows people to make decisions. Because they are determined, people can judge the consequences of an action before it is made, allowing them to choose the option with the most beneficial results. Humans are naturally determined by the world they live in because of the physical nature of that world. In Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl states “To be sure, a human being is a finite thing, and his freedom is restricted. It is not freedom from conditions…” (Frankl 130). While humans do have the ability to make choices, they are still restricted by the cause and effect laws of the world. In this respect, individuals and their actions are
The environment plays a big role in influencing who you are and how you may behave. Which brings us to the movie I Heart Huckabees written by David O. Russell. It talks about existentialism, which is a type of philosophical theory that articulates the existence of an individual as having free will. Free will is the idea that you go about life, choosing your course of action freely instead of living by a code or believing that God has placed you in this universe with a purpose. Free will sort of demonstrate how individuals will react differently from one another in the same situation.
It has been sincerely obvious that our own experience of some source that we do leads in result of our own free choices. For example, we probably believe that we freely chose to do the tasks and thoughts that come to us making us doing the task. However, we may start to wonder if our choices that we chose are actually free. As we read further into the Fifty Readings in Philosophy by Donald C. Abel, all the readers would argue about the thought of free will. The first reading “The System of Human Freedom” by Baron D’Holbach, Holbach argues that “human being are wholly physical entities and therefore wholly subject to the law of nature. We have a will, but our will is not free because it necessarily seeks our well-being and self-preservation.” For example, if was extremely thirsty and came upon a fountain of water but you knew that the water was poisonous. If I refrain from drinking the water, that is because of the strength of my desire to avoid drinking the poisonous water. If I was too drink the water, it was because I presented my desire of the water by having the water overpowering me for overseeing the poison within the water. Whether I drink or refrain from the water, my action are the reason of the out coming and effect of the motion I take next. Holbach concludes that every human action that is take like everything occurring in nature, “is necessary consequences of cause, visible or concealed, that are forced to act according to their proper nature.” (pg. 269)
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.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
Students entering college for the first time become concerned with their college life. The students are on their own once they enter college. There are no parents or guardians telling them when to do homework, when to go to bed, or how to eat healthy. These students are now responsible for how they are going to succeed in school and meet their own needs. From the beginning, these students wonder what their experience is going to be like and are they going to handle the demands of college?
Determinism and free will are incompatible. The events in people’s lives are already chosen for us, or determined. The expected behaviors of people are explained by natural laws and by experiences that they were exposed to. But this viewpoint does not explain people’s intuition. Although, there is a chain of physical causes that lead into people’s intuition.
idea of “agency” (Gravett 61-71). This idea can most easily be described as a human’s ability to
In conclusion, my dream is to become successful in college and benefit from college skills that will help me reach my future goals. However, I may have to be prepared for the obstacles that I might encounter, and learn to overcome them. Much of my success will depend upon my willingness to seek advice from experts and professors. In addition, I will have to learn how to build effective strategies that will help me achieve my dream of becoming successful students
Both common sense and fact show that we can actively change our behavior. We don’t feel compelled by unknown forces to act in a certain way, and at times of decision we know there are other choices. A determinist’s reply would state that humans are ignorant of the forces around them that are actually controlling their behavior in this sense; man becomes a puppet to irresistible forces acting upon him. Neither the free will nor the determinism theories can be proven to be wholly causal of human behavior. Alternate theories are formulated that incorporate the main points of free will and determinism that appear to be accurate and evident in life.
Therefore we are not free to act as we wish due to our actions being
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.
The question that the textbook poses at the very beginning of chapter four is, “Are you Free” (Chaffee, 2013, p. 172). Most people would look at this question as pretty cut and dry and would answer a resounding yes. Philosophically speaking, it is not that easy an answer. You have to be willing to look at the question with an open mind, and ask yourself if the choices you make are truly free, or if they are governed by forces outside of your control. In the following paper I intend to compare and contrast the three major philosophical viewpoints regarding this question, and come to a conclusion on which I find the right answer.
Is how we act is predetermined by a number of factors beyond our control or are we simply able to make choices that are not determined by our dispositions or desirers. This notion of freewill has been debated by theorists for centuries. Hard Determinists say that how we act is due to a combination of genetic factors and the environment around us. A similar notion is Fatalism where how is act is predetermined by a higher power. However Compatabalists think that how we act is a combination of freewill and what environmental and genetic endowments have been bestowed to us. This paper will critically discuss these theories and how human beings are capable of freewill.
Nature is complicated. It includes many different sorts of things and one of these is human beings. Such beings exhibit one unique yet natural attribute that others things apparently do not—that is free will.
In the college success strategies (COLL 101) class, we had explored various areas of future possibility. Throughout the quarter, We sketched out the big pictures of the future. We identified potential destination and explored the path to get there. In this reflection essay, I would like to talk about and reflect on personal development throughout the quarter.