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Ayer's Argument For Compatibilism Successful?

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In this essay, the free will problem, pertaining to philosophical nature, will be introduced and explained so that the reader can grasp the foundation of this essay’s main focus. The main focus of this essay is A.J. Ayer and his argument for compatibilism. The argument for compatibilism, according to Ayer, is that a choice that one makes cannot be free unless it is caused. Ayer also suggests that a person can only be held morally responsible for their actions if they had the ability to choose otherwise. This may sound confusing right now, but it will make sense soon. After providing some background material within this essay and presenting the argument for compatibilism, an evaluation from myself will be included to further discuss the topic. …show more content…
In studying this argument by Ayer, I have drawn a conclusion that Ayer’s defense of compatibilism is successful. I am not a philosopher and this is my first time studying the subject matter and that may play a crucial role in the drawing of my conclusion. However, I would like to briefly discuss two points that led me to me to believe that Ayer’s argument was indeed successful. Firstly, I agree that free actions are not uncaused actions. Free actions are choices that are caused in a particular way. An example would be deciding which coffee creamer to use out of the two in my refrigerator. I like both of them just the same and my decision to choose one over the other is left at random with a coin toss. Therefore, the coin toss is the cause of my choosing of one of the flavors. A second reason of why I agree with the argument for compatibilism is because of the justification through Ayer’s definition of what a free action is. If my action and choice was voluntary without anyone compelling me to do so and I could have acted differently just by choosing so, my action was

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