Free Will Verses Determinism

Free Will Verses Determinism

Determinism is the theory that all human action is caused entirely by preceding events, and not the exercise of will. In philosophy, the theory is based on metaphysical principle that an event is impossible without cause, the success of scientists in discovering the causes of certain behavior and, in some cases, control, tends to reinforce this principle. In philosophical discussion, the will is usually equated with reason as one of two complementary activities of the mind. It is considered that the will is the power to choose and decide, while reason is to discuss and argue, so a rational act would be an exercise of the will after due deliberation(Epstein, 1999). The will has figured prominently in the thinking of many philosophers, including nineteenth-century thinkers Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche. Historically the debate has focused on the topic of freedom of the will, a matter of the greatest importance for the analysis of human action and moral responsibility.

Socrates is entirely inclined to "free will" rather than "determinism". Socrates had enough common sense to know that he couldn't "fly up to heaven" using his "free will". So some things are determined and determinate (Kenrick, 2003). But other things allow for choices according to the freedom of our wills to choose between different or even opposite courses of action (Fischer, 1989). Socrates knew that like all "mortal" things (including human beings) that he would necessarily die (either from drinking hemlock or from old age --- if he actually ran away from Athens as advised to do by some of his friends). So, as far as dying was concerned, he had no choice. That was determinate/determined by the laws of nature (Baumeister, 2009).

Overall, we give a definition of determinism as the theory that all that has been, is and will be, and all that has happened, happens and will happen, is fixed beforehand, conditional and established, there may be happen more than what this set beforehand, conditional and established. They understood the importance of this concept for a discussion about freedom (Earman, 2007). Any doctrine that holds that there is an ineluctable fate or predestination there is, as seems evident, deterministic, although it is possible to distinguish between any of these doctrines and determinism in the strict sense. Although predestination can affect all reality, both the ideas of fate, as predestination itself, seem to belong to the realm of human action. Instead, determinism covers more area and can speak the same in all the phenomena of the universe. Thus, we speak of a universal determinism is almost always associated with the idea of causality that governs the entire universe. Now you understand the importance of this concept for religion and science.

It can make a distinction between determinism as "causality" and teleology, as "finality". Although there may be common ground between the two concepts, determinism is most frequently associated with efficient causes and finality. Determinism in modernity is linked to a mechanical conception of the universe and it ...