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…
Voice 1: ...and therein our problem lies, free will exists. It is your fault that you chose to talk to me about this. Voice 2: No, no, no. All of our actions were determined beforehand because of the natural order of things. This conversation exists because of previous causes, and the causes had causes, and so on. Free will does not exit. Voice 1: I cannot bring myself to believe in such a thing. Obviously, there are multiple choices to make at any given moment and all the decision making…
In the “Problems of Philosophy”, Chapter 9: “The Debate Over Free Will”, James Rachels and Stuart Rachels, investigate over freewill. Throughout the chapter the authors discuss what free will means and the ways to evaluate if we are free. The chapter moves towards the Free Will Argument using the Determinist Argument, the Libertarian Response, the Compatibilist Response and additionally covering the ethics involved with the chapter of free will. The chapter begins with the determinist argument…
If there is providence, why do terrible things happen to good men? The piece of writing “Of Providence” by Seneca, tries to answer this question from a divine viewpoint. Seneca argues that those close to God do have to pass hurdles, but do not consider themselves to be suffering. This essay will agree with Seneca’s claims. In the context of this writing, terrible things or “evils” refer to pain, defeat, tribulations and loss. Seneca claims that good men are those who are loved by God. Seneca…
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…
John Hick bases the argument concerning the problem of the evil by questioning the existence of an omnipresent and omnipotent God. Though he presents a positive objection to God, he argues that if God is all loving and the most powerful then he could not create evil on earth. With the ability and powers to eliminate evil on earth, evil still exists though God plans and intends no evil, therefore, there exist likeliness that Hick doubts Gods powers over creations or even Gods existence at all.…
Free will’s existence is nearly impossible to determine but crucial to the morality of judgments. Without free will, it doesn’t stand to reason that a person can be held morally responsible for doing wrong because they had no ability to not do the wrong. Choice is the necessary factor in determining culpability. In the same way that hot soup cannot be held liable for burning someone, a person cannot be held liable for perpetrating a crime if they had no free will. The implications of the free…
liberties as positive rights and negative rights respectively (2). Negative rights or Liberties are the individual’s inherent rights to freedom. The sole obligation for others is not to interfere in a person’s decision when it is made by free will. A person’s right to free life, moral truth, privacy, right to stay silent during any legal interrogation, a right to vote freely and marry without being pressurized, a right to fair trial and freedom from unwarranted searches. Essentially, “Life,…
Can you escape fate? Are we free or are we influenced by outside factors? Does our past determine our future? Philosophers have presented two opposing views to answer the aforementioned questions; do we follow free will or determinism? Free will is the concept that we are free to make our own decision. Determinists argue that actions, just like our world, are based on cause and effect. The following essay will explore the concept of free will, determinism and compatibilism; a concept that some…
only viable position in the debate concerning free will and determinism. In doing so, I will present, explain, and critically evaluate compatibilism. I will then consider, but ultimately refute, the following two objections against compatibilism: the hard determinists’ argument that we have no free will due to causal determinism and the libertarians’ argument that we are not causally determined. Compatibilism is the theory that causal determinism and free will are both true. Causal determinism…