Holbach's Argument Analysis

The True Puppeteer What is free will? Is it a false belief or an idea of human actions? Paul Halbach believes that human beings do not have ‘free will’, because he is a determinist. A determinist believes that all human choices, events, actions, and reactions are all already determined. Holbach argues that ,us, human beings as physical objects, that only obey the un-mutable laws of nature, and that the environment we live in, influences our cognitive thinking that fuels our actions, the way we perceive things, that in turn drives our motives, beliefs, desires, and our will to act. He would also argue that having choices does not prove freedom, and the absence of restraint is not absence of necessity, and that it we build up an illusion of …show more content…
In his article, he made an example where person B threw himself out of a window, to prove a point to person A (determinist), that we have freedom of choice. But ironically, person B’s action proved person A’s, and Holbach’s argument to be correct: That our desires, beliefs, controls our sense of will to act. Person B was controlled by his motivation, his desire, his belief, to prove that we do have freedom. Holbach 's states in relation to our desires controlling our will, “whether this obstacle or motive be with his own machine or exterior of his person: he is not master of the thought presented to his mind, which determines his will; this thought is excited by some cause independent of himself” (441). Meaning that we do not control our will, it is our motives, beliefs that works the human body machine and forces it to move, not the other way around. Holbach believes that humans are not a free agent. Because we do not create our own desires, or motivations, (etc.), we are only influenced by the environment such as external objects that stimulates our perception. Which relates back to person B responds to its external object, person A’s views, which made him jump out of a window because he wanted to prove that we do have free