Debate Over Free Will Summary

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. There are problems with each argument and Rachels delves deeper into them. He also provides helpful examples of each argument and their dilemmas. After reading the chapter, I went back to review the segment that said free actions are not chaotic. I went back to come up with a question that was nagging my brain for release. Isn’t the point of free actions the freedom to be unpredictable even if it is chaotic? How can …show more content…
I would say that the chapter was interesting because it caused me to have a better understanding of what free will could consist of. The concept of free will never crossed my mind and it really did not interested me until I read this chapter. I understood that without people thinking that they had free will we would believe that we have no freedom to do as we like. The arguments about free will also interested me because they present problems that lead to an understanding of what free will could be. Although, I did find some parts to be perplexing. I liked the ideas Rachels presents about free will because they made better sense than the arguments. Neither of the three arguments in the chapter are perfect and they also have their own problems, but I think they make sense of what free will can be defined