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Free Will Vs Determinism

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The debate between free will and determinism is something that will always be relevant, for people will never fully admit that we have no free will. But, while we may feel that we control what we do in life, we simply do not. The argument for free will is that individuals have full control and responsibility over their actions, and what they become in life as a whole (The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility by Galen Strawson, page 16). Determinism, on the other hand, is saying that we have no control over our actions and that everything we do in life is determined by things beyond our control (Strawson, page 7). After analysis of The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility by Galen Strawson and Freedom and Necessity by A. J. Ayer,…show more content…
Before free will is disproven, determinism shall be fully explained. Determinism’s argument is that what we do is based off of who we are, but since who we are is out of our control it must follow that what we do is out of our control. In terms of how we are made, we do not pick our traits/characteristics that make up our tendencies or minds as people, for our parents are what determine those factors, and our presence is only due to their procreation. Outside of our physical selves, our perspectives and rationale are also dictated by external forces. Where we are born, who we are raised by and how we are raised is not in our control, either, so with the argument that what we do is based off of who we are, and that it is clear we do not control who we are, it is concluded that we do not control what we do. Determinism is certainly the explanation of human behavior, as will be proven during this comparison to free will.
Free will’s existence is based off the argument that we have free will because we regularly make decisions on our own and do not have external powers forcing us to act the way we do. Ayer espouses free will, saying that “it is not when my action has any cause at all, but only when it has a special sort of cause, that it is…show more content…
But, since intuition depends on who we are and what we are made of, things that we do not control, free will is not present and with that neither is moral responsibility (Strawson, page 17). Everything we do is based off of what we are made of in terms of our mind and rationale, and what we are made of is a product of external things that we do not control, so it must be true that everything we are, and everything we do, is not determined by our own free will. In order for us to truly have free will, it would require us to be our own creators, products of our own thoughts, which in itself is impossible due to our understanding of human procreation. By no means does this suggest that humans cannot be punished for evil actions, or that humans are being forced to do what they do, but rather that we do not have as much control over what we do in our lives like supporters of free will would believe. Free will is not present, so moral responsibility isn’t, either, for determinism proves to be the argument more worthy belief after comparison to free will. I did not make a free willed decision to title this paper, I did not even make the choice to take this class, for what I have been convinced is humorous, clever or for my own best interests in life as a whole is completely out of my control, and with that so are my
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