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Essay about The Question of Free Will Versus Fate

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The question of free will--the idea that we are free to make decisions unhindered by external forces--is very disconcerting to deal with because most people are not willing to accept that we are not in control of our lives. It is also controversial because it wrestles with the idea of a world possibly without moral responsibility. If there is no free will how do we hold a person responsible for molesting someone or for stealing? If someone actually didn't decide to do either of those things but rather was just going through the motions then it doesn't seem right to hold them culpable. Consider the concept of free will in the example of walking on the street and find a wallet with $200 inside of it. Do you sent it back to the …show more content…

A common argument is that any final choice we make is simply a feeling inside of us that makes the conclusion on whether to take the wallet or not. The external and internal factors may lean us toward a decision but ultimately we have the last say. Yet, still questions arise to this such as why do we make this final decision if not from these factors? Where did these morals or whatever the case may be come from? It is difficult to argue for the concept of fate or determinism and say this was all planned out from the beginning of time knowing some things in nature happen randomly-- meaning given the same circumstances two opposite results can and often do happen (Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle). One factor of thisprinciple is illustrated with the example that if you throw a ball against a wall it will bounce off in the same direction each time. However, if you take an atom and throw it off a wall there are endless directions it ricochets when repeated. If one argues that a decision they made came from nowhere, nothing affected a man/woman to have them and are completely random, then they are not one's choices at all--just a roll of the dice which the person has no control over. The same problem arises if the argument comes up that either our decisions or personalities come from God. The first problem would be proving the existence of God. The second and more prevailing argument is that even if it is found our attributes
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