Do People Have Free Will?

Philosophers have argued the assumption whether people have their own freedom to make decisions. In effect, Ayer suggested that people don’t have free will when influenced by constraints. In addition, Ayer defines free will as being able to choose otherwise. However, people don’t have freedom if there threaten or an addict. I agree with Ayer’s claim that people don’t have free will when under constraints which cause people to make decisions. In the first place, some constraints are threats that manipulate people into making decisions without the choice of options. For instance, if someone holds a gun to another person’s head and tells them that they must rob a bank or they will kill them. Therefore, the person is going to rob the bank because they don’t want to die. However, the person didn’t necessary want to rob the bank but the person was force to rob the bank. As a result, the threat of the gun causes the person to rob the bank. Certainly, the …show more content…
For example, if a person’s co-worker records the person bashing the company and boss and the co-worker tells the person unless you give me $10,000 they're going to give the recording to the boss. This is an example of habitual ascendancy and for this reason, the person is going to give the co-worker a $10,000 because the person needs the job and is intimidated. Consequently, the person’s freedom to make a choice in that situation is removed and their options are limited. However, the person can choose not to pay their co-worker. Surely, if the person chooses not to pay their co-worker they will get fired. Therefore, the person voluntary choose not to pay the co-worker, which in essence was the reason for their action to occur. To point out, the person didn’t have freedom on choosing their action and the constraint caused them to make a decision showing that intimidation causes people to make