“We honor our past because it shapes our future,” this is one of the many quotes that Otterbein University holds dearly. Otterbein University holds this value greatly. Otterbein gives equality to all students, faculty, and others since 1847. Before any women’s rights and the abolishment of slavery, Otterbein University allowed people of color and women to receive a fair and equal education. Otterbein University is a mid-sized college located in Westerville, Ohio.…
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.…
Determinism is a philosophical idea that attempts to place all events that occur as inevitable as they are predetermined by previous events and the laws of nature. However there are many who came to be known as indeterminists who reject the notion that free will is absent from the process that causes events to occur. Indeterminists believe that there are possible events that have different probabilities of occurring based on human beings free will. Then Chisholm’s view of the agent-casual theory presents humans as always going through a decision process when making an action that leads up to an event they work through their desires in first and second order volitions and then they act. These actions are free from previous events and cannot…
The Supreme Court, as Justice Madison puts it, is the Supreme interpreter of the law, and all laws that are not constitutional must be strike down. Brandeis also thinks this way. He thinks the interpreter of the law has supervisory powers. They must be impartial and not allow a citizen or government official to break the law. If citizens break the law, then the appropriate punishment applies according to the statutes; however, if the government breaks the law, then sanctions applies to uphold the integrity of the law.…
3. If determinism is true, then we could not have acted freely. To understand the argument, we must first know what “determinism” and “free will” are.…
Psychologically speaking, as humans, we are wired to think that we have the freedom to act and do based upon our own self judgment. For simplistic reasons, let’s assume that this “freedom” is analogous to free will which is a philosophical idea in which to act freely is to have multiple open futures and possibilities, or to be able to choose between many different choices. Determinism is the belief that every event (including action, choices, and decisions) is the inevitable result of a causal chain of events. In other words, a choice with an action (A) is the inevitable result of an earlier action of an earlier choice. This principle presents a problem for the concept of free will.…
Within this essay, I will argue that Galen Strawson’s basic argument, presented in Your Move: The Maze of Free Will, is correct about the impossibility of ultimate moral responsibility. I will do this by first explaining the basic argument as proposed by Strawson, then raising an objection to it concerning the distinction between the self and the way you are by denying the second premise. And finally, I will be refuting the objection. Strawson’s basic argument can be boiled down to the simple notion that one cannot be ultimately morally responsible. He claims that anything you do in any circumstance is an effect of who you are, and the way you are.…
The debate of Free Will v Determinism is one that has gone on for centuries, and shall continue to go on for many to come. There are many who believe that their view is the end all, be all, correct view to hold. While not all of these thinkers are correct in their standings, Paul Holbach’s essay, “The Illusion of Free Will,” lays out a strong argument for universal determinism; man does not have any free will, and all of his actions are determined by the laws of nature. His argument is one that is accurate and strong, leaving little to criticize, despite what many believe to be proof that he is incorrect: the presence of choice and the absence of restraint. He takes these two beliefs and shows exactly why they do not denote free will, and all…
Chapter nine in Problems from Philosophy by James Rachels and Stuart Rachels titled “The Debate Over Free Will” is about the three arguments over free will. They are Determinism, Libertarianism, and Compatibilism. The Determinism argument is, as Rachels states, that our actions are manipulated by forces we cannot control. The second argument Rachels presents is Libertarianism which states that some actions we freely choose and that we are also not made to do so. The last argument is Compatibilism and according to Rachels, it states that actions are both free and determined.…
The philosophical question of free will has been debated for years and has spawned many theories, papers and never ending arguments. Soft determinism along side with hard determinism and libertarianism make up the three theories of free will. By focusing on the works of Stace and Cahn, I aim to prove that the idea of soft determinism is not an inherently flawed argument and that free will and determinism are compatible. In the argument of free will, soft determinism falls in the middle between hard determinism and libertarianism.…
Opposing to determinism comes the idea of indeterminism, which is the complete opposite. Indeterminism is the idea that rejects both hard and regular determinism saying that not every event has its sufficient natural causes. This idea leaves room for free will that some actions are due to choices that living beings make. This would mean that people re responsible for their actions and are left to make their own thoughts and decisions. Physicist, Werner Heisenberg, created the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, which refutes Pierre Simon La Place’s idea that if he knew the location and motion of every object in the universe, that he would be able to predict the location and motion of any object in the universe at any time in the future.…
This philosophical question is still not unsolved, but in this essay I will argue that a freedom of choice cannot be had by an agent in a deterministic world. Determinism thesis states that all events in the universe are determined by previous events. In determinism, every even is determined to happen by the laws of the the system.it is assumed that once the laws are set and the systems are decided, everyone following the event in the system is also decided. This assumption proves that humans are not free to chose how they act, but are determined by prior events over which they have no control over. The freedom that is precluded by determinism is the freedom to act without recourse to prior events, which means not having a choice determined and is able to act many different ways in any situation regardless of the cause.…
We, human beings, in the universe, all feel as though we are making decisions and using our free will each day. We are not forced to do things, we will them to be done. The higher power of God derives in us free will. Determinism is ultimately…
Libertarianism is a political philosophy that believes that we have free will and that it does not work together with determination. They believe that free will is the way for us to be morally responsible. They also believe that it is in their power to create their own future with the ability that they are given to choose whatever, whenever. They believe that things could have been done differently, so it is our responsibility to make the right decisions. It is freedom of predetermination and one's nature.…
Free Will and Determinism have been discussed by philosophers for many years. Free will is associated with moral responsibility, and alternative actions that “could have” been taken over the one chosen. Determinism is the opposite view, and is associated with universal causation, and a lack of free will. Determinists believe that a person’s actions are inevitable, they are dictated by a person’s experiences, they believe nurture, nature, and even a person’s genes determine their future actions. Because of this determinists believe people hold no moral responsibility for their actions.…