Free-Will and Determinism Conflict and Choice Essay example

Suppose that every event or action has a sufficient cause, which brings that event about. Today, in our scientific age, this sounds like a reasonable supposition. After all, can you imagine someone seriously claiming that when it rains, or when a plane crashes, or when a business succeeds, there might be no cause for it? Surely, human behavior is caused. It doesnt just happen for any reason at all. The types of human behavior for which people are held morally accountable are usually said to be caused by the people who engaged in that behavior. People typically cause their own behavior by making choices; thus, this type of behavior might be thought to be caused by your own choice-makings. This freedom to make your own choices is free†¦show more content†¦Therefore, according to this statement, man is not free. brbrIf we accept the determinist argument and assume human behavior as a consequence of external factors rather than of free choice, then we must realize that our expla nation of human behavior leaves no room for morality. If people do not choose their actions, then they are not really responsible for them, and there is no need for praising or blaming them. If determinism were true, then there would be no basis for human effort, for why should a person make an effort if what he or she does doesnt make a difference? If what will be will be, then one has an excuse for doing nothing. Life would not be so meaningful for people on deterministic grounds. Human life, as we know it, would not make much sense without the concept of freedom. In our everyday lives, there are many times when we have to make decisions; what we are going to eat for breakfast, or where we are going to walk. When we talk or write, we are deciding on the arrangement of our thoughts, and we have to search for the right expressions. Our life, while we are awake and active, is a mixture of important and unimportant choices. brbrHaving free will means that we are able to act voluntaril y, that we could have decided to act differently than we did. When someone is criticized for looking sloppy, or making an offensive remark, he may try to excuse himself with a IShow MoreRelatedFree Will vs. Determinism: Do You Create Your Own Destiny, or Is It Redetermined?1108 Words   |  4 PagesThroughout time, philosophers have been striving to answer the theoretical question of â€Å"Do you make your own choices or have circumstances beyond your control already decided your destiny?† For thousand of years, this question has haunted the minds of sophisticated society, because it questions the very root of man’s life. The two great debates created to solve this question are Free Will and Determinism. To answer this argument I will attempt to present the arguments of both sides, by defining their premisesRead MoreArgument For Incompatibilism By Peter Van Inwagen854 Words   |  4 Pagesconcludes that free will and determinism cannot be compatible. 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