I Feel Free

Free will is defined as the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion. Two texts that I feel deal heavily with free will are Paradise Lost and Oroonoko. In Paradise Lost, Adam and Eve experience the struggle for free will with God, as they go through trials and eventually end up being removed from the Garden of Eden. In Oroonoko, is about an African man who is taken from his home along with his wife, and is forced into slavery. He…

In the ”Impossibility of Moral Responsibility”, Galen Strawson argues that we cannot be held morally responsible for our actions, as well as stating that free will does not exist. Strawson says that if one is not responsible for anything about themselves, how could they possibly be responsible for something that they did? He also says that when we engage in S-procedures, intentional shaping procedures, we only do it because of certain features of the way that we already are. In the very…

Taking the Environment into Account The argument of determinism and free will has been disputed and contemplated for many years. People are forced to make decisions and have a given set options to choose from that are inescapable. Those situations may be a direct result of previous decisions or where the situation is taking place. Things do not usually turn out the way we really want it. I would concur that individuals can settle on decisions that shape their lives, but at the same time,…

If you could have, then why didn’t you? Free Will is the tittle for chapter 6 in the book. It starts off by giving us a brief example of a very common situation people go through everyday in perhaps more than once a day. Food choice, would you pick the healthiest desert for you, or the appealing chocolate cake? If you picked the cake knowing that it wasn’t good for you, yet you still had the option to pick something else, then why didn’t you? Nagel discusses different explanations of why humans…

Fate, Destiny and Free Will in Oedipus the King Before I analyze the play I have to first define what Fate, Destiny and Free will is. I think Fate is development of events that are outside of one’s control and those events are predetermined by the Gods or supernatural powers. On the other side Free Will is when one controls their own actions. Concepts of Fate, Free will and Destiny are common in Oedipus the King. Even though the choices Oedipus made were of his own free will, I think ultimately…

inevitable. During the play Macbeth believes that through his decisions he can evade and change his fate, and in the end fate, as always, continues and proves the witches prophecies to be true. Despite my personal beliefs, many people think that Macbeth free-willingly made the decision to be evil. However, what many people seem to overlook is the fact that Macbeth’s decisions are what create his predetermined fate. The three witches tell Banquo and Macbeth prophecies and while Banquo sees…

destined to transpire or a “supernatural occurrence” so to speak. Free will is self explanatory; it is determined by oneself as opposed to some hierarchy power. It is said that what we are, what we’ll become, what our life will consist of, who we’ll be in later life, and even troubles we’ll experience in our lifetime, is preordained. For instance, if I am told I will become the number one doctor in the United States,…

When I chose to enrol in philosophy 1000, did I choose freely ? There are many arguments that say different things. The thing that sucks is that there is no clear answer, which is the same with most things to do with philosophy. But there are some with stronger arguments. Throughout this essay we will cover free will, Libertarianism, Determinism/Fatalism and compatibilism/soft determinism. Most events are determined however some are not. Through the use analytical procedures to do with these…

actions determined by the past, or are those choices freely made? Free will has been a debated subject for a very longtime. Many philosophers have tried tackling this issue with no success to finding the existential answer. Free will is defined as the ability to make your own decisions throughout life. The opposing belief is that everything is determined and everything that occurs has a cause behind it, we call this determinism. Free-will and determinism are very different philosophies, despite…

that free will is when "at least some of our choices and actions are not decided for us or forced upon us but are genuinely up to us." (Vaughn, pg.333) Free will is such a dilemma because for humans, it is natural to think that events are caused by previous events, but then again, it is natural to think that we act freely as well, yet together, these plausible beliefs cannot be true. The two general ways to respond to this problem are Compatibilism and Incompatibilism. The ladder says that free…