The Neurology Of Free Will By Angie Bachman

It is shown that people that tend to be involved in the use of drugs do so after making a voluntary choice (Heyman, 2009). The major use of drugs for social and non-medical preferences can lead to dependence and further addictions, it is a choice that people tend to make and from that it can lead to wanting it more, do it more with friends and further it becoming an addiction, that then effects the brain and body. When drugs are used in the wrong way they can cause many health issues but some people still tend to refer to drug addiction as a disease. Yes, There has been compelling evidence that addiction is a disease, however the result shown are weak and inconclusive. Results of different brain scans are shown by The National Institute of Drug Abuse (2017) are used to back up that addiction in fact is a disease, however the brain scans used in this research are not symbolic of any abnormal changes. The research by The National Institute of Drug Abuse do point out that changes in an individual’s brain is shown as evidence that addiction is a brain disease, however this argument can be shown as mistaken as changes in many human brains can be seen as not exclusive in addicts, although they can occur when a person is normal (Branch,2011). To top it off the information that is stated by the NIDA however doesn’t show evidence of the behaviour of addicts being involuntary or

For years, Bachmann keeps coming to the casino until she got hooked and became a compulsive gambler. She gambled every money she has up to the point of losing everything. During those time, Bachmann had no idea that someday she would become one of the most important examples of whether people should bear responsibility for their habits. Bachmann’s problem with gambling slowly loses control over how much time and money she spent gambling. Although she thinks she is in control and she was aware of the bad effect it may cause, Bachmann continued gambling without seeking help. Other times she tried to cut down or stop but, many times she failed. She keeps hoping a big win will end her problems. She feared that her loved ones will find them out that drives her deeper into hiding and further into debt. She felt anxious and upset whenever she tried to change. I would also like to point out that Harrah’s Casino is partly to blame here. Their participation in Bachmann’s addiction is something to consider and look upon. They shower her with gifts such as: “free coupons, free buffets… free trip to Lake Tahoe with a suite, and tickets to Eagles concert” (Duhigg, pp. 247, 261) in which according to Bachmann is hard to resist. According to Bachmann’s lawyer, “she should not be held culpable because she had been reacting automatically to temptations that Harrah’s Casino put in front of her. Once the offers started rolling in,

In conclusion, the argument whether Bachmann is responsible or not, I agree that she is responsible for her own actions. In his book, Duhigg further explains that “Habits are not simple as they appear. Once they are rooted in our minds—aren’t destiny. We can choose our habits, once we know how. It can be changed. But every habit, no matter its complexity, is malleable. Even the most dysfunctional individual can transform themselves. However, to modify a habit, you must decide to change it” (Duhigg, p. 270) There are a lot of ways which can help a gambler to change such as, bankruptcy which provides considerable relief for those buried by unsustainable levels of debt and allow each individual to have a new start or the “voluntary exclusion program in which any person could ask for their name to

Further, circumstances such as economical, health, or personal issues resulting in a person’s choice to take drugs ironically can be the same reasons for them to either change their pattern, stop taking drugs, or get help versus the unavoidable, involuntary effect of a diseased brain. Additionally, those that choose to continue being addicted over a long period of time illustrates that by making that choice they are not helpless compared to a person who has a chronic disease. “Rather than being the inevitable, involuntary product of a diseased brain, these actions represent the essence of voluntariness. The addict’s behavior can be modified by knowledge of the consequences. Involuntary behavior cannot (Satel, Goodwin, 1998, pg. 5).

The question of free will has been a never ending discussion by philosophers and ordinary everyday people for decades. In this paper I will be analyzing the case of Ethan couch, a 16 year old boy accused of manslaughter under the influence of alcohol, from the three different viewpoints of free will; a hard determinist, a compatibilist and a libertarian. Then I will discuss which view I agree best with under the specific conditions of this case.

Is being addicted to drugs just an effect from doing them or is it simply a choice that is made? Drugs have been and still are a part of our world and have been popularized since the 1960s. A drug is a substance which has a psychological effect when ingested into the body. The use of drug addiction can vary depending on the person. For example, it could be out of curiosity, peer pressure, to change their performance around others, reducing stress or depression. In chapter 7 “Rat Park” of Slater’s book Opening Skinner’s Box gives us a brief discussion about figuring how to get people who are hooked on drugs a way out, through the process of using rats in two different experiments. Furthermore, in the article The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been

In Lauren Slater’s article Rat Park, Slater talks about Bruce Alexander’s study and experiments on addiction. Alexander’s experiment consists of lab rats in two environments. The first is a caged environment and the second was a “perfect environment” called Rat Park. Rats in each environment were given two choices of water. One study group had regular water and the second was a form of heroin in water. The caged rats chose to drink the drugged water until they were placed into the “perfect” rat park environment. Once placed in this environment, theses rats stopped drinking the drugged water and started to drink the regular water. The rodents originally placed in the rat park drank

Bachmann is guilty because she knew that gambling can put her in trouble but she still

Angie Bachmann mother of 3 children, got addicted to gambling felt lonely at home, when her husband went to work and children went to school. Bachmann had gotten married young and had become pregnant almost right away. She had never held down a meaningful job. One morning, "She was sitting at home, staring at the television, so bored that she was giving serious thought to reorganizing the silverware drawer" (Duhigg). That morning the trouble began. She was really bored, so at about noon, Bachmann drove to a riverboat casino. She played and lost 40 dollars. After that first trip to the casino, Bachmann started going to the riverboat once a week. Then twice a week. Over the next decade, Bachmann played regularly. She went whenever she fought with her husband or was just bored. At the tables she was numb and excited, all at once. The high of winning was so immediate. The pain of losing passed so fast. According to Duhigg states" First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode. Then there is the routine - the behavior itself - which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps

Timshel; meaning “thou mayest”, holds a significant role in East of Eden. It shows that anyone can desire to surmount vile in their hearts and create morality within them self. In the novel, Steinbeck portrays the significance of timshel through the introduction of free will, the internal conflict of Caleb, and the blessing of Adam.

Although free will has been defined in multiple, conflicting ways, the present approach analyzes it as a psychological capacity including self-control, choices, planning, and the ability to assess and initiate things independently. These capabilities are useful for making human social life and culture possible, but they depend on a limited resource and therefore often fall short of optimal levels. Religion may be helpful to individuals and society in part because it supports both the exercise of free will and the belief in it.

In the article rat park Rats in Rat Park and control animals in standard laboratory cages had access to two water bottles, one filled with plain water and the other with morphine-laced water. The denizens of Rat Park overwhelmingly preferred plain water to morphine (the test produced statistical confidence levels of over 99.9 percent). Even when Alexander tried to seduce his rats by sweetening the morphine, the ones in Rat Park drank far less than the ones in cages. Only when he added naloxone, which eliminates morphine’s narcotic effects, did the rats in Rat Park start drinking from the water-sugar-morphine bottle. They wanted the sweet water, but not if it made them high. In a variation he calls “Kicking the Habit,” Alexander gave rats in

Once the debt piled up and her cash flow decreasing, she then starts to blame the casino of feeding her addiction. In my opinion that is a poor move to make because not only would the casino lawyers crush her in court, they would try to file for absurd amounts of damages. That is why Bachmann should be held accountable for her mistakes or most addicted gamblers would follow the same route.

Some people believe that no matter what a person does in their life, it will ultimately have no effect on the outcome ofa it. Existentialists find this to be true because they believe that no matter what they ever do, they will always die. Existentialists link the inevitability of death to the idea that there is no higher power. Additionally, existentialists hold the belief that no one should allow society to control how they live their life. Writer Albert Camus uses many existentialist themes his works like The Stranger and “The Guest”. The protagonists in both stories demonstrate existentialist beliefs in their actions. As a result, many existentialist ideas can be seen throughout out both novels. Camus uses the paradox of free will in order to illustrate the inevitability of death for everyone as well as the idea that in order to obtain free will, a person must reject society and face exile.

Casual determinism put simply, is the theory that all things happen for a particular reason and everything is predetermined. It is the idea all the events in one’s life can be explained, and each event has a particular reason for being. If everything is predetermined, then this therefore suggests that the future is fixed which further suggests that we can possibly predict the behavior of things. The theory of determinism ultimately suggests that we don’t the capacity to have free will because all future events are destined to occur, and furthermore we do not posses the knowledge to figure out whether it can be proved true or false (Hoefer). There has been three positions that have developed concerning the theory of causal determinism: hard determinist, compatibilist or soft determinist, and compatibilist.