Free-Will Vs Determinism

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Within and beyond philosophy, lies the tension between the universal concept of free will and determinism. From a general standpoint, individuals are convinced that they rule and govern their own lives. Free will embodies that individuals have the freedom to dictate their own future. It asserts that our minds and essence have the capacity to choose our own actions and direction, whilst also choose alternative paths. Determinism on the other hand, suggests that life is a product of necessity and causation, built upon the foundations of the past and laws of nature. It threatens the thesis of free will by positing that the world and everything in it is knowable through strict cause and effect relationships - eliminating the possibility of freedom …show more content…

Compatibalists aim to resolve the tension between ‘free will’ and ‘determinism’ by creating a neutral thesis by which both views are logically consistent. Modern philosophers such Hobbes, Locke, Mill and Hume, see compatibilism as a way to reconcile free will with modern science. They state that the most moral decisions that humans make, require both external determined factors and internal acts of free will. Hume states that free will and reasonable action must be caused by an individual, immediately bridging a gap between free will and determinism. These philosophers argue that freedom requires causation, and that without it, there would just be randomness. Therefore, in order to sway from randomness, choice must be a causal factor. And if choice is a causal factor, then it must also be a determinant. Thus linking back to how free will cannot be completely understood without determinism. Compatibalism suggests that human choices are a combination of both free will and determinism. Searles depicts this by saying compatibalism‘denies the substance of free will while maintaining its verbal shell.” Compatibalists then in some way rearrange the definition of free will in order to fit determinism, with the focus rather than being solely will, be ‘freedom of action’. Yet the change in translation it is not that large of an issue according to compatibalists, since freedom is

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