Free Will : Moral Responsibility

To begin, people who are not determinists will argue that people do have free will. A common criticism for determinism involves the human consciousness: “Consciousness is not a material thing, even if it is dependent on the physical brain, and thus is not bound by the laws of physics.” (Eric Wayne). Due to the fact that an individual’s thoughts cannot be observed with the five senses, then the consciousness of every individual is different. To

It has been debated over centuries whether us humans have control over our destiny, and if we are really able to decide on our own. The controversy between free will and determinism has been argued about for years. If we look into a dictionary, free will is define as the power given to human beings to be able to make free choices that is unconstrained by external circumstances or a force such as fate or divine intervention. Determinism is defined as a philosophical doctrine that every event, act, and decision is the inescapable consequence of antecedents that are independent of the human will. Determinism states that humans have no free will to choose what they wish. Due to this fact, contemporary philosophers cannot agree whether free will does exist, let alone it be a divine influence.

There is a theory that states that determinism and free will are incompatible with each other. Determinism is a philosophy that states that there is only one physically possible future, that can serve as a continuation of the present, given the state/ circumstances of the present. But, free will states that, as a person you have free will if the choices that you can make are all open to you and are all have an equal chance to happen and be a continuation of the present. So, the theory basically is saying that you cannot have the ability to choose what you want to do and at the same time have a path be determined for you with out you having a say. But, I disagree with this theory.

We believe the choices we make can be made randomly if we so choose. People who believe in free will don’t understand which of our actions are free and which actions are simply illusions. This gap in our perception, of what is free and what is just an illusion, is free will.

Firstly, determinism can be defined as the philosophical belief that every event or experience occurs because of some necessity, and thus, most events or experiences are considered inevitable (Ogletree & Oberle, 2008). However, it should be noted that with this perspective or view, the idea that certain events or occurrences could have been performed in a different manner and future decisions could turn out to be different from the expectation, are criticized or challenged. On the other hand, the concept of free will refers to the ability that a person has to choose between different possible courses of action, and in most cases, free

The topic of free will is an interesting and thought-provoking debate. As a child, I always believed that I had freedom to make my own choices, but now I am not so sure. To start, we must first define the term ‘free will.’ According to the Oxford English Dictionary, free will is “spontaneous or unconstrained will” or the “inclination to act without suggestion from others” (“free will”). There are four major views on the topic of free will. One is fatalism which is the view that all things are determined to happen but prior events do not influence these events. Another view, determinism, is the belief that all choices are already established due to prior events. The compatibilist view is one where determinism and free will can coexist. And the last is libertarianism, the belief that we have free will and nothing determines the choices that we make (Class Notes). Philosophers like Barron Holbach (determinists) argue that there is no such thing as free will, while William James (libertarian) and G.E. Moore (compatibilist) beg to differ. I agree with Moore and the compatibilist view.

There is little doubt that free will is seen as hugely important to western philosophy. In particular, it has been suggested that it’s absence may have ramifications for the existence of moral responsibility, henceforth ‘MR’. I will be arguing that ultimate responsibility is the only sufficient condition forMR and that Baker’s reflective endorsement argument fails to encapsulate all scenarios in which we have MR. In addition, I will argue that belief in moral responsibility isn’t necessary to treat people as moral beings. Unless specified otherwise, when I say ‘free will’, I will be referring to libertarian free will. By moral responsibility, I mean the ubiquitous phenomena whereby someone’s evaluative judgements and actions make them answerable for an event or outcome and liable for certain consequences. Included in this definition is the idea that an agent can be absolved of responsibility if they have a morally relevant justification

When it comes to talking about the idea of “free will” there are a lot of factors involved. I think it’s difficult to just openly say yes or no to the question of “Do all humans have free will?”, because there are certain cases on each side where things aren 't so black and white. When first thinking about this question, I went back and forth on my answer. It was hard to pick a side. In the end though I came up with this idea. All humans are created as free beings, and they have the free will to do as they choose. The things that seem against free will, like genetic determinism, getting sick, and your own mortality are all still your decision, but are decided more by multiple decisions instead of just one or on a more spiritual level.

There are many events in a person's life that have an impact so large, that the person' life is forever changed. Hopefully most such events are positive, and help him in his life. However, there is also the undeniable fact that bad things happen. It is not uncommon to hear someone wondering aloud why an event took place. A person's actions come into question, and it is wondered what the person's motivation was. Once we start questioning the events of our lives, we begin to test out different theories that we have heard over time. "It was fate," or "It is part of God's plan," or other theories which attempt to put some meaning and reasoning behind events in our lives. Human's also

To begin with, free will is broadly defined as being able to choose between different courses of actions without being restrained by any physical or divine forces (“Free Will”, n.d.).

Websters dictionary defines free will as “freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention” (Merriam-Webster). As the

Determinism suggests that all behavior is predetermined and foreseeable because of former influences. The laws of determinism form the foundation for psychological science. Free will is the notion that we can choose how we act and assumes that we are unrestricted to choose our behavior. People can choose to commit a crime or not. This suggests that the person is free from the impact of former events and that person is accountable for their own deeds. Psychologists who support free will interpretation believe that determinism eliminates free will and self-respect and disregard human behavior. The uniqueness of human beings ability or freedom to choose their destiny is not valued in the deterministic approach.

Free-will can be defined as the ability an individual has to act without the limitation of necessity or fate. It the power a person has to act at one’s discretion. Do we really have the freedom to experience what we want, when we choose? Some would say yes while some others will say no, philosophers have argued about this topic and there hasn’t been any particular conclusion yet. It is the ability a person or animal has to choose his or her course of actions. Although most philosophers suppose that the concept of free-will is very closely connected to the concept of moral responsibility.

Are people genuinely responsible for their own actions, or is there something that causes people to act in the ways that they do? This question has dwelled in the minds of all people at some point or another, whether they have been commoners or scholars, and has puzzled humanity throughout history. Throughout the past, people have greatly thought about the influence of things such as divine power on determining just how free any individual truly is in making moral choices, but the biggest factor in question is Fate.

Human beings are morally responsible for their actions because they posess free will. Free will is a choice or a desire to do something of ones accord. According to Paul Edward, a philosopher, when we call an action “free” we mean that the agent is not compelled or constrained to perform it. (Edward). One might argue that people act in certain ways because they have been drugged or