Compatibilism and incompatibilism

Is free will compatible with determinism? That’s the most philosophical question asked. Free will is the power or ability to make a choice for which one can be held responsible for. Determinism is the thesis that at any time the universe has one physically possibility in the future. Compatibilisim is the thesis that we can have free will in a deterministic world. 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…

The time travel paradox or simply temporal paradox is a self contradictory argument in which time and space contradict each other and challenge destiny. A paradox is a self-contradicting idea that is logically unacceptable because there is no logic explanation to prove it. There are two types of temporal paradoxes: the causal loop and the grandfather paradox; each of them have the same basis, but have subtle differences. The movie “12 Monkeys” is built around a causal loop that enters in the…

When we hear the word “will”, first thing which arises in our mind is my choice. In our society, humans are involved by freedom but all the laws and rules have limited are freedom to a level. Tough not much freedom in many things but we do have freewill. Many philosophers have claimed that we should do what we actually want to do, which means that we should obey our freewill. In contrast, Sam Harris objected about the real concept of freewill. Harris is a neuroscientist and he believes that…

History can be viewed as an utterance of one very long sentence. There is a famous philosophical argument concerning our history and our future; the argument states that if determinism is true, and the past and the laws of the universe determine the future, then individuals do not hold sway over what is to come. In the simpler words of Leucippus, "Nothing occurs at random, but everything for a reason and by necessity".There are two kinds of actions; those that depend on free will and those that…

In general, freedom of action is a fundamental condition to do what a person wants to do, so people often consider it is necessary or important for free will. However, according to Harry Frankfurt’s definition of free will, that idea is wrong, and freedom of action is neither necessary nor sufficient for free will. Why he consider it as neither necessary nor sufficient for free will? And why this claim is important in his argument? I will discuss those two questions in this paper. First, why he…

Man has been grappling with the complexity of free-will and determinism since the antiquity era. Over the centuries, innovative ideas have been presented defending both cases of the argument. In the case of determinism, I choose to focus on two specific branches of the philosophy: casual determinism and theological determinism. These two concepts contribute the most compelling evidence on the determinist’s behalf. The main issue which arises from determinism is the notion that an individual is…

The Problem of Free Will: Libertarianism The problem of free will discusses whether or not there is free will and moral responsibility in one’s actions. Causal determinism, the idea that physical events and actions have physical causes, plays a main role in this debate because it determines whether a person has control over their actions (G. Tiller, personal communication, October 2015). In hard determinism, there is only causal determinism so, a person has no control over the choices they make…

For many centuries, philosophers have attempted to answer an important question: do we have free will? Though the answer may seem as simple as “of course we do, I can make my own decisions independent of what you are doing.” Significant philosophers like Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, and Lock have tried to tackle the issue of free will (Ekstrom 1). Today, there are three major types of arguments for free will: the hard determinist, indeterminist, and compatibilist. Knowing the…

Throughout my adolescence, I was raised, taught, and encouraged to believe that I have free will and I am held responsible for my actions. On the other hand, not many people were raised, taught or encouraged to believe the way I was. Most people believe they are not held responsible for their actions. There are external factors in which we have no control of and our ability to do things differently is limited. This means that if an external factor is causally determined, then your ability to do…

From Tralfamadorian philosophy, Billy Pilgrim reaches the conclusion that free will does not exist. This deterministic attitude comes from Billy’s naiveté on the compatibility between our freedom to choose and pre-determined outcomes. For this paper, determinism will be simply defined as stating that given the past and the laws of nature there is only one possible future. In other words, the only future reality that will happen is the only reality that can happen, therefore, the state of the…