The View That Determinism Is Not Incompatible With Free Will

3559 Words15 Pages
Michael Colon
Dr. Buchholz, D.
Introduction to Philosophy I
11/01/2014
Compatibilism: Discussion and concerns
Compatibilism is defined as “the view that determinism is not incompatible with free will.” In this holding, if determinism were valid, a person still has free will. One of the initial forms of compatibilism is the holding that to be imbued with free will “is simply for one’s choice to cause one’s actions. Free will is basically doing what one wants; in the example of Hume, free will is basically defined as “a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will (Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 159).
Nevertheless, determinism exposes free will to a wide number of vulnerabilities. In each of these…show more content…
A number of psychologists engage determinism without thoroughly embracing the full parameters of the concept. This is the faint impression that can be seen in the contention on the topic of free will. In essence, determinism is a principle that holds to the inevitability of the “occurring” of an event. The links and structures of causes are so potent and incontrovertible that what can be stated is that all situations and their results are inevitable.
To one who upholds the tenets of determinism, there are not coincidences; nothing has happened that has not already happened. In addition, everything that has happened is the sole manner that the event could have occurred at that point in time. In this light, these are the reasons why compability and free will leave most people thinking that these two concepts are incongruent with each other. However, there are a number of scholars in the past years that have adopted a form or another of compatibilism that secures a downgraded form of compatabilism and still adhere to the tenets of determinism.
The core of free will is that the individual can respond in more than one situation to a given scenario. In the holding of a determinist, this holding is extremely flawed. Actions, including unconscious actions, are being done to bring an individual to the point where the person is left no option but to perform the action that was inevitably laid down
Show More
Related
Open Document