DETERMINISM AND FREE WILL essays

DETERMINISM AND FREE WILL essays The conflict between determinism and free will is a long-standing one. It is one of those philosophical issues that might never be fortunate enough to receive a unanimously agreed upon solution and for this reason, it is up to each person how he views the issues and seeks to resolve it. As with most philosophical theories, determinism and free will is a contentious issue because they oppose each other and in order to support one, you need to give up the other. It is generally believed that the two cannot exist together for they are in conflict with each other and thus are incompatible. It is therefore important to first understand what is meant by determinism and free will. Clear definitions of the terms can help us decided whether the two are compatible or not or if free will has any place Determinism is the philosophical position, which maintains that behind every event is a cause or another event. Waddell Ekstrom (2000) writes: "The doctrine of scientific or casual determinism maintains that every event is causally necessitated by a previous event, so that every event stands in a chain of events stretching backward into history, the links of which are deterministic causal connections. An alternate way to put the doctrine is this: At any particular moment, there is, given the actual past and the laws of nature, exactly one way the world could go." (Page 16) Determinism therefore ignores the role of choices or moral responsibility and primarily focuses on the role of previous events or cause in the creation of a new event. For example, when a person misbehaves with an elderly determinism would free him of his moral responsibility to have behaved more properly and instead study the causes of his behavior. Determinists believe that behind every current event is a past cause or event and keeping this view in mind, we would probably acquit the misbehaving person and instead accuse those...