Compatibilism Free Will

“‘Free Will’ is a philosophical term of art for a particular sort of capacity of rational agents to choose a course of action from among various alternatives” (O'Connor). Many philosophers have their own theories about what it means to possess free will, and these theories are generally just slight variations of one another. However, when viewing free will from a theological standpoint, the idea of a greater being comes into play. This becomes an issue when deciding whether its followers are truly free or not. More specifically, Christianity promotes the idea that God is omnipresent and all-knowing, which is where the idea of free will and rule under God may seem to clash. In a sense, God’s followers are pre-destined to end up in Heaven,

“Determinism states that every event (except the first, if there is one) is causally necessitated by antecedent events.” In other words, if A and B occur, then C will result. In Christianity, the letter A would represent God, the letter B would represent his conception of the universe, and the letter C represents the materialization of God’s conception of the universe. If the idea that God essentially created everything is true, then God is omniscient. He has free will to do absolutely anything, which explains the diversity of the universe. Many philosophers argue that compatibilism is impossible in Christianity because God is omniscient, so free-will must be intangible for Christians. However, Christians are faced with decision that they must make to ultimately identify as a Christian. God first delineates two paths which we can take: the path to follow him or the path of not following him. Depending upon our choice, we have relative capacities of freedom or “free

Alternatively, if an individual sins, then they are held responsible for their action and must answer to God. While God already knows the path we will take, perhaps suffering consequences for our actions is merely a way of defining right from wrong. While mortals can not experience this on Earth, God’s test may be a form of pattern to demonstrate positive actions to nonbelievers. Outside of Christianity, conflicts between medicine and the law often question moral responsibility. For example, if an individual is schizophrenic, they did not will to be schizophrenic; he/she was genetically predisposed to have it. If this individual involuntarily commits a crime due to his/her disease and actively follows his/her prescribed medication or treatment, the individual may not be held morally responsible for the crime in a court of law. However, if this individual commits a crime after disregarding his/her prescribed treatment, then he/she will likely be held responsible for the crime and may be punished accordingly. The problem with this process is that it is resolved when one’s life ends and can only be conceptualized by reading The