The 3rd Reflective Essay Amr Eid Radwan
Are we free?
- Exploration of Will by Exploiting D’Holbach’s Arguments -
P eople always want to believe that they are free. But is this the truth? Are we the ones who determine their fates? Are there any external factors that cause our actions? These questions can be taken philosophically and psychologically, but in this essay, we will focus only on the philosophical approach with an aim to gain profound understanding and careful analysis of this critical question. One way to simplify the question is by assuming that there is a person “X” who did certain action in certain circumstances in certain time, so …show more content…
If a Muslim person did not follow these strict rules, he/she will deserve the extreme punishment in the other life that he/she as a Muslim believes in. This leads us to conclude that Islam is based on personal freedom or at least part of it. In Islam, I am the one who determine my fate to heaven or to hell. Thus, I am the only one who takes the responsibility of my actions. D’Holbach this free will is just an illusion. For d’Holbach, there is no free will. He defines will as a modification of the brain, and it is the result of the impulse that he receives from a motive, an object, or an idea. Hence, these internals are the causes to make the choice a person is making, so humans are never free. And a response by d’Holbach to indeterminists who believe in free will, he proposed an example of a thirsty dog to explain that our actions are always resulting from the causes we are encountering. These causes are navigating us even we think the opposite. The second form of determinism is soft determinism, also called “compatibilism”. Compatibilists are half determinists, half indeterminists. They believe that all events are results of causes. Thus, they agree with hard determinists on that.
Are we free?
- Exploration of Will by Exploiting D’Holbach’s Arguments -
P eople always want to believe that they are free. But is this the truth? Are we the ones who determine their fates? Are there any external factors that cause our actions? These questions can be taken philosophically and psychologically, but in this essay, we will focus only on the philosophical approach with an aim to gain profound understanding and careful analysis of this critical question. One way to simplify the question is by assuming that there is a person “X” who did certain action in certain circumstances in certain time, so …show more content…
If a Muslim person did not follow these strict rules, he/she will deserve the extreme punishment in the other life that he/she as a Muslim believes in. This leads us to conclude that Islam is based on personal freedom or at least part of it. In Islam, I am the one who determine my fate to heaven or to hell. Thus, I am the only one who takes the responsibility of my actions. D’Holbach this free will is just an illusion. For d’Holbach, there is no free will. He defines will as a modification of the brain, and it is the result of the impulse that he receives from a motive, an object, or an idea. Hence, these internals are the causes to make the choice a person is making, so humans are never free. And a response by d’Holbach to indeterminists who believe in free will, he proposed an example of a thirsty dog to explain that our actions are always resulting from the causes we are encountering. These causes are navigating us even we think the opposite. The second form of determinism is soft determinism, also called “compatibilism”. Compatibilists are half determinists, half indeterminists. They believe that all events are results of causes. Thus, they agree with hard determinists on that.