Determinism Vs. Free Will

1458 Words3 Pages

Many people often wonder what influences their choices, why they do the things they do, and why the world functions the way it does. Many like to argue that people make the choices they make because things are determined by nature and nurture, no other factors. Others like to argue that people have full control over the choices they make and there are no constraining factors. In this paper I will demonstrate that determinism is false and people are not typically determined by nature and nurture to perform the evil actions they do. I will identify what determinism is, the different forms of determinism, why people find it to be true, why I find it false, and show different examples of why. I will then go on to discuss free will, the different forms of free will, and why people do things out of free will.
The definition of determinism “The world is governed by (or is under the sway of) determinism if and only if, given a specified way things are at a time t, the way things go thereafter is fixed as a matter of natural law.” The root of the philosophical idea is that everything can be explained or that everything has a reason for being and being as it is and nothing else. There are also different types of determinism that people believe in. Soft, hard, and casual determinism are the three different types of determinism. Soft determinist believe that free will is compatible with determinism. They believe in determinism, but believe free will can be present. “According to this soft determinism perspective, a person’s behavior may be caused by internal psychological states that, in turn have causes, but if no immediately pressing external agent affects the behavior, the person is said to have free will,” (Ogletree&Oberle, pg.98...

... middle of paper ...

...Matile Ogletree and Crystal D. Oberle, Behavior and Philosophy , Vol. 36, (2008), pp. 97-111

The Problem of Evil and Moral Indifference,Tim Mawson,
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Hoefer, Carl, Hoefer,. "Causal Determinism." Stanford University. Stanford University, 23 Jan. 2003. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.

McKenna, Michael, McKenna,. "Compatibilism." Stanford University. Stanford University, 26 Apr. 2004. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

Moral Responsibility, Determinism, and the Ability to Do Otherwise, Peter Van Inwagen, The Journal of Ethics , Vol. 3, No. 4, The Contributions of Harry G. Frankfurt to Moral Responsibility Theory (1999), pp. 341-350

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The Organization of Evil, C. Fred Alford, Political Psychology , Vol. 11, No. 1 (Mar., 1990), pp. 5-27

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