Examples Of Compatibilism

Compatibilism In this paper I will discuss compatibilism and how free will can work with determinism. First let’s start by defining free will as, the ability to choose your actions freely without constraints. As a mature, responsible adult, I had worked for my mother-in-law for 6 years as her personal care assistant. Anyone who has worked for a family member can agree that at times it is very difficult to deal with the high expectations to go above and beyond your job description. For this reason, I decided to quit my job. I made this decision with my own free will. There were consequences for my actions, but it did not make me choose one way or the other. When discussing free will, you must also consider morality. When Stace discusses this idea he say’s “Morality is concerned with what men ought and ought not to do” (Stace, 266). As developing children we are influenced by our environment and what we are taught is right and wrong. Campbell argues that “when we regard a man as morally responsible for an act, we regard …show more content…
Have you ever heard someone say “everything happens for a reason”? This would be a deterministic statement. What it means is that the event was out of anyone’s control to change or do otherwise. I find myself at times wondering “Ok, what is my lesson I am supposed to learn from this”. My car for example, breaks down and it will cost me lots of money to fix it. Now, let’s consider that I drive a fairly newer car with very low mileage on it, so for a major mechanical problem, it was shocking to me. I naturally considered why this may have happened. I did not choose for my car to break down. Did I make a bad moral decision and now I am going to suffer my consequences? A determinist would most likely say that this had to happen in order for the next event to be