Determinist Argument On Free Will

In chapter 9, the book Problems from Philosophy by James and Stuart Rachel’s, they go into depth about the topic free will. They both decide to discuss what the topic means and the many ways we can ration out if we actually free. In other words, what makes us free or if we succeed. They want to catch our interest in this question in order to get out attention to read over the topic. In the beginning of the Determinist Argument, they start off with a quote by novelist, Isaac Bashevis who states “I believe in free will. I have no choice” (Rachels an Rachels 109). This quote is an attention grabber for all of the readers. Since we do not have enough evidence to help us figure this question, there certainly is some scientific evidence to help guide us throughout our journey. In this chapter, they discuss the argument on free will using the Determinist Argument, Libertarian Response, and Compatibilist Response, along with …show more content…
This argument states that everything we do is caused by forces over which we have no control, consequently we never act freely (Rachels and Rachels 110). They want us to focus on the understanding, that we should believe that our actions are out of control because “we are a part of nature, our brains are composed of atoms and like everything else, composed of atoms, they are subject to laws of physics” (Rachels and Rachels 110). Determinism has three main viewpoints; the first is, actions are caused, the second would be that caused actions are not free and the third is that actions are not free. Rachels and Rachels go on further to explain. We obviously don’t have the capability of doing certain things, However, we have the ability to exercise free will. We can’t grow a tail or become God. We also do not have the freedom to choose to do so, so are we in fact not truly free at all? There will always be factors that may assist in determining our actions, which may limit our freedom to do