The question about if the future was decided for us or if we have free will to change it was argued at many times and by many people. One person spoke about this topic was Richard Taylor. Now, I will argue about Richard Taylor quote when he said “whatever the future will hold, there is nothing anyone can do about it. What will happen cannot be altered”. My argue will show four people talked about this subject. Two of them support Taylor’s opinion, other two support free will by saying we can change the future. For me, I totally disagree with Richard Taylor quote, in my philosophizing, it is a pessimism way of thinking. Also, it gives negative people the excuse to fail. Personally, I believe in diligence rather than fatalism.
There are
…show more content…
They think of with free will and the ability of changing the future. Their opinions might far away from what the religions had thought us but I think they more logical and reasonable in their arguments. First, I would like to talk about The Buddha and how they rejected fatalism, which leaves no room for significant choices. According to Feuerman, Asaf “What Kind of Free Will Did the Buddha Teach” the author showed two different Buddhist Philosopher a nd scholars one was Richard Gombrich- a scholar Buddhist- he said “The Buddha preached an idea of moral agency and individual responsibility which is far stronger than that held by Christianity or indeed by any other religion or ideology of which I am aware. In the first place, there is no external agent, such as a God, who can take the blame for our decision. We have free will and are wholly responsible for ourselves”. In a very powerful argument I was attracted by the above quote which shows that we have free will and we responsible about our decisions and therefore our future. In a research under the name of “The Value of Believing in Free Will” according to the authors Vohs, Kathleen D., and Jonathan W. Schooler “In a massive survey of people in 36 countries, more than 70% agreed with the statement that their fate is in their own hands” with this statistic and the huge number of believing in free will, it is easy to pull down Richard Taylor point …show more content…
Depending on the faith, god hold everything including our future. According to the Bible (NIV) in Mathew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feed them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”. As a respond for previous kind of thought, and from my religious thoughts too, I think god does not control our future. God does not hold our steps to the future and we can always change it. I believe what meant by that verse that god does not hold the future but he taking care of us and our future by the
in every choice we make and our outcomes depend on our choices. Not too long ago, our preacher
... way Dr. Haber in The Lathe of Heaven does. Dr. Habers use of power misses the most vital point society needs: change. I prefer to go with the Quechua speaking peoples view of not being able to see your future but being able to make glimpses. I like to think of having obstacles come my way so that I in turn can become a better person. I also believe that challenges in life our good because that is when you see how strong your faith is. If there were no obstacles in the world and only what you wish for, the world is a place that I would not like to be found at. So as for now, and with the many obstacles I will have to face in the future, I will let the God that I believe in decide what my future will consist of. As far as Im concerned, I am safer with letting God be in control because I know he ultimately knows what in fact is the best for me and not my own desires.
Many believe that our choices in life are already made for us and we have no control to what happens to us, although others believe that this life is like an epic journey and we can change our fate at any moment. It´s hard to choose which side you believe in my honest opinion I believe that our lives do not ¨lie in the fate of God¨ as stated by in the Iraq War Post by Faiza Al-Araji however I believe instead that our life is an odyssey, that we must travel through and make important choices by ourselves not by fate. But with many edvidence and claims in both story the question ¨How much in our lives do we actually controls?¨ wanders through our mind.
It has been sincerely obvious that our own experience of some source that we do leads in result of our own free choices. For example, we probably believe that we freely chose to do the tasks and thoughts that come to us making us doing the task. However, we may start to wonder if our choices that we chose are actually free. As we read further into the Fifty Readings in Philosophy by Donald C. Abel, all the readers would argue about the thought of free will. The first reading “The System of Human Freedom” by Baron D’Holbach, Holbach argues that “human being are wholly physical entities and therefore wholly subject to the law of nature. We have a will, but our will is not free because it necessarily seeks our well-being and self-preservation.” For example, if was extremely thirsty and came upon a fountain of water but you knew that the water was poisonous. If I refrain from drinking the water, that is because of the strength of my desire to avoid drinking the poisonous water. If I was too drink the water, it was because I presented my desire of the water by having the water overpowering me for overseeing the poison within the water. Whether I drink or refrain from the water, my action are the reason of the out coming and effect of the motion I take next. Holbach concludes that every human action that is take like everything occurring in nature, “is necessary consequences of cause, visible or concealed, that are forced to act according to their proper nature.” (pg. 269)
The argument of whether humans are pre-determined to turn out how we are and act the way we do or if we are our own decision makers and have the freedom to choose our paths in life is a long-standing controversy. As a psychologist in training and based on my personal beliefs, I do not believe that we truly have this so called free will. It is because of this that I choose to believe that the work of free will by d’Holbach is the most accurate. Although the ideas that Hume and Chisolm present are each strong in their own manner, d’Holbach presents the best and most realistic argument as to how we choose our path; because every event has a cause, we cannot have free will. Not only this, but also, that since there is always an external cause, we can never justify blame. Now let’s review Hume and Chisolm’s arguments and point out why I do not think that they justly describe free will.
The problem of free will and determinism is a mystery about what human beings are able to do. The best way to describe it is to think of the alternatives taken into consideration when someone is deciding what to do, as being parts of various “alternative features” (Van-Inwagen). Robert Kane argues for a new version of libertarianism with an indeterminist element. He believes that deeper freedom is not an illusion. Derk Pereboom takes an agnostic approach about causal determinism and sees himself as a hard incompatibilist. I will argue against Kane and for Pereboom, because I believe that Kane struggles to present an argument that is compatible with the latest scientific views of the world.
Some Philosophers believe that free will is not required in moral responsibility. John Fischer states that “human agents do not have free will, but they are still morally responsible for their choices and actions.” Fischer is basically saying that moral responsibility is not as strong as free will (Timpe).
In summary, the idea of self-reliance will continue to bewilder the minds of our current and future generations. In fact, this is due to the lack of a definite answer to the question. Nevertheless, I am persuaded that whether an individual be a believer or non-believer in having control of their destiny, there are forces or uncontrollable factors in life that have the ability to control a minute percentage of one’s destiny.
You have no control over these things, it is fate that has that control. Alought to some extent, free will may have a minor part in your future, it is ultimately fate that determines it. There is an extent to which a person controls their own life, like what they want to be, what they want to do, but when it comes to their future and the direction in which their life is going to take, it is fate that does it. Just like life, your future is something that you have no control over, you have no idea what to expect, you can only hope that fate works out in your favor and give fate the benefit of the doubt. A majority of people people that you control your life, but it’s not the case.
Ultimately, the free will problem will remain a highly debated subject due to its complicated nature. The solutions of determinism, compatibilism, and incompatibilism posed by Nagel in addition to my argument dealing with chance events are merely possibilities on how to dissect the phrase, “I could have chosen otherwise”. This concept is rooted in the subject of philosophy, since there is often no right answer. Philosophy allows us to express our opinions and come up with conclusions we believe to be true. Whether humans have free will or not will remain a mystery that we do our best in solving.
Are we humans able to control our fate or destiny? This is probably a question where no two people would ever have the same answer. Argument can be made in plenty supporting either answer. As we follow the young boy, Santiago, in the Alchemist, through his journey, there were circumstances where he controlled his fate and others where he had no control over his future. Melchizedek, the King of Salem tells Santiago that the belief that our fates are not in our control is the world’s greatest lie.
In the same way, I myself was chosen. I think of last semester’s study of Psalm 139. Verse 16 fits best. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” It is an awesome reminder that God knows what is going to happen and where we will be in the future. I also think Samuel 12:22 goes along, “For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.” God has a plan for the future, it goes beyond my understanding, but when I take a moment to pause and think, I am reminded that God’s plan will always come through.
Free will is defined as the capacity of rational agents to choose one course of action over other various alternatives. Free will is also inseparable from moral responsibility because if one has the ability to make a decision, one is to be held morally accountable for that decision. For centuries philosophers have debated whether free will is possible. Determining whether or not we have free will calls us to question the structure of nature. Do we have the power to alter the order of the world or influence events with the decisions we make?
Freedom, or the concept of free will seems to be an elusive theory, yet many of us believe in it implicitly. On the opposite end of the spectrum of philosophical theories regarding freedom is determinism, which poses a direct threat to human free will. If outside forces of which I have no control over influence everything I do throughout my life, I cannot say I am a free agent and the author of my own actions. Since I have neither the power to change the laws of nature, nor to change the past, I am unable to attribute freedom of choice to myself. However, understanding the meaning of free will is necessary in order to decide whether or not it exists (Orloff, 2002).
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 assumption. 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 doesn't just happen for no 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 will.