Does Free Will Exist?

Sam Harris argues that the concept of free will is incoherent, he states this in the beginning of the video, “Free will is actually more than an illusion (or less), in that it cannot be made conceptually coherent.”. Free will is the potential to make a free choice, likewise free choice is an alternative that is conclusively not affected by any external relations and is erratic, however it is thoroughly logical from the view of the individual making the decision. Harris claims that our human life relies upon our conscious agents of free choice. According to Harris, as an individual living in today’s society, we must illustrate free will as an illusion because it has the potential to change our moral righteousness to create just in our society. Harris believes that free will has everything humans are concerned about such as religion, politics, judicial law systems, feeling of accomplishments and guilt as well as remorse. In his introduction, he explains that the relevant understanding of free will appears to stand on two assumptions, the first one being that we are free to behave differently than we could have in the past. The second assumption he stands on is that we as human beings are the conscious source of most of our thoughts and actions in the present. However, both of these assumptions are unsound.

Harris questions that if we we can’t control our next thought and you don’t know what its going to be till it arises, where is our freedom of will? When an individual makes a decision and then acts on that decision, the notion “I choose A over B” pops up in their consciousness in a similar way a painful experience or a motive would. This individual doesn't seem to have any potential over where the notion appears from, it just ...

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...erated and also our actions can be essential. Humes believes that there is no significant relationship between cause and effect. Humans think that one thing lead to another because we have discovered this cause and effect relationship in the past. David Humes argument is unsound because in his article, he explains the three forms of associations between ideas, including the relationship between cause and effect, however he doesn’t explain what this principle may seem to be. Also, Humes enunciates the guidelines of moral responsibility, and the way they pertain to the issue of free will. Generally, these guidelines should be understood in terms of his perspective about the rationale of our concepts of “liberty” and “necessity”. Free will and responsibility, is said to be caused by an agent. Therefore, there is no incompatibility between free will and determinism.