Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Alternative causation
Essays on responsibility
Theory of responsibility Utilitarianism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Alternative causation
Krystal Luna PHR –100-601 Freedom of the Will and Moral Responsibility This world has turned into a place where people are required to take full responsibility for their actions and words. Often we do this informally, via moral judgment or if not through legal judgment. In other words we become morally responsible, deserving praise, blame, reward or punishment for an act or omission based upon one’s moral obligations, thus contradicting the concept of free will. Main viewpoints on moral responsibility interact with the following three, constructed by human action: determinism, compatibilism and libertarianism. A philosopher once said “Just as we separated the concept ‘free’ from the concept of ‘will’ in order to better understand ‘free will,’ so we need to separate ‘moral’ and responsibility." The philosophy of determinism says that “it is the belief that all events are caused by things that happened before them and that people have no real ability to make choices or control what happens.” It is the idea that every event or state affairs was determined at the...
Furthermore, free will has been closely connected to the moral responsibility, in that one acts knowing they will be res for their own actions. There should be philosophical conditions regarding responsibility such like the alternatives that one has for action and moral significance of those alternatives. Nevertheless, moral responsibility does not exhaust the implication of free will.
In “Alternate Possibilities and Moral Responsibility”, Harry Frankfurt attempts to falsify the Principle of Alternate Possibilities. The Principle of Alternate Possibilities is the principle where a person is morally responsible for what he has done only if he could have done otherwise. A person would be morally responsible for their own actions if done by themselves. If someone else had forced that person to do the action, then the person doing the action is not morally responsible. Frankfurt does not believe this to be true and that the person doing the action is morally responsible. Frankfurt’s objections towards the Principle of Alternate Possibilities shows the refutation of natural intuition and places moral responsibility upon those who deserve it.
Determinism is a view that everything has already been laid out and planned the way it is going to be. I believe Determinism’s name comes from the thought of it being “predetermined” as if it is destiny or fate. You react based on your internal and external environment which has already been created for you. Almost like a waterfall effect. I frequently use the saying “everything happens for a reason”. Which after reading into determinism, I realized that saying is the definition to a type of determinism known as metaphysical determinism.
Determinism is the theory that everything is caused by antecedent conditions, and such things cannot be other than how they are. Though no theory concerning this issue has been entirely successful, many theories present alternatives as to how it can be approached. Two of the most basic metaphysical theories concerning freedom and determinism are soft determinism and hard determinism.
As a result, this essay will prove that one is held morally responsible for any act that was performed or chosen by them, which qualifies as a human act. The Libertarian view consists of one’s actions not being determined; however, have free will, which is a precondition for moral responsibility. Basically put, human acts are not determined by precedent causes. Libertarianism is one of the views under incompatibilism along with Hard Determinism. The opposite of these views is Compatibilism.
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.
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.
Various views on free will have been developed since then. The three that I will mention in this essay are Libertarianism, Hard Determinism and Compatibilism. Libertarians believe each individual should look to enhance their lives through the use of free will or the freedom of choice. On the contrary, Hard determinism argues that free will is impossible. Proponents of this ideology
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.
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
Within and beyond philosophy, lies the tension between the universal concept of free will and determinism. From a general standpoint, individuals are convinced that they rule and govern their own lives. Free will embodies that individuals have the freedom to dictate their own future. It asserts that our minds and essence have the capacity to choose our own actions and direction, whilst also choose alternative paths. Determinism on the other hand, suggests that life is a product of necessity and causation, built upon the foundations of the past and laws of nature. It threatens the thesis of free will by positing that the world and everything in it is knowable through strict cause and effect relationships - eliminating the possibility of freedom
I can’t help but imagine King of Kings in the manger at the time of his birth. Why did our Lord landed in a manger rather than some better place? This was the question which was my only ultimate question that I only wished so much I had proper answers, or at least some scriptural revelations.
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.
One of the most widely discussed topics in the field of philosophy is the concept of determinism. Determinism is “the thesis that only one continuation of the state of things at a given moment is consistent with the laws of nature” (Inwagen). In other words, people do not act of our own accord but rather by the hand of a greater force in a predetermined series of events. The theory of determinism opposes that of free will, which is the belief that we have the choice to do whatever we want to do. This theory has been mulled over and over again by philosophers who believe that the laws of nature highly suggest the existence of only one pathway of events, a path that is strictly based on an exact chain of cause and effect that can be traced back
Throughout this essay, I will discuss and analyse the reasons which make free will and determinism incompatible with one another. Free will is a term which implies that every human being has been given the gift of free will by God to choose either good or evil. Free will is a freedom which every human is entitled to which allows us to make our own decisions. Determinism is a term which implies that every event which happens in life, happens from a cause. Determinism indicates that humans cannot act any other way other than the way they act. Both terms are completely opposite from one another and I will discuss why throughout this essay.