Freedom and Exercising Free Will

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In life, it is said that our actions slip by without us even knowing it. At times it even seems that we have little knowledge of our actions, as life is full with factors and different elements. This point of view takes on the ideas that free will may be an illusion. “Free will may be defined as the capacity to exert the “power” which allows one to act freely (Wall 2013: 268); this is one of the many definitions of free will. Therefore, it would bring up the question of whether there is an actual general definition of what free will means. By looking at the different perspectives, it clearly shows that there are two points of views that from the opposite side of the spectrum. As one view may believe that we quite possibly could be oblivious to the universe around us; it may depict the thought that we are heading down a predetermined track. Yet, on the other hand, it is likewise considered that anything we do is a consequence of our own doing. That we consciously react to things around us and the choices we make are a result of our own decision making process. The term “free will” has been a long-standing controversial topic; from the enlightenment period to now there has been a conflict of problem, whether we humans are predetermined to follow the nature of life or has been decision makers and have the freedom of thought and action. According to Smith in 2013 he state that “Over the past few centuries, philosophers have argued that Determinism is valid or Indeterminism is valid, and correspondingly, either free will either exists or it does not”. (Wall 2013: 268). This is the main problem of the topic of free will, as no direct statement has been stated as the general definition.
Determinism is defined as the “philosophical idea...

... middle of paper ...

...ly. 11th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2013. 530-536.

Casado, Ruben.
2011. “The Ineffectiveness of the Denial of Free Will.” Philsosphical investigations, 34(4): 368-380.

"Determinism." Determinism. http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/determinism.html (accessed April 2, 2014).
Fried, Barbara H.
2013. “Beyond Blame.” Boston Review, 38(4): 12-29

"Indeterminism." Indeterminism. http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/indeterminism.html (accessed April 2, 2014).

Vilhauer, Benhamin.
2012. “Take Free Will Skepticism Seriously.” The Philosophical Quarterly, (64)249: 834-852

Wall , Ryan Darrell.
2013. “To be Free or not to be Free: A Theory Regarding Mans Question of Free Will.” Neuroquantology, 11(2): 268-276.

Watters, Ethan.
2006. "DNA Is Not Destiny." Discover Magazine. http://discovermagazine.com/2006/nov/cover (accessed April 2, 2014).

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